


Dreams Too Big to Bear Alone

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Soulmate Dreams [9]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, Olympics, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-04-06 12:46:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 50,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14057304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Viktor and Yuuri have enjoyed the peace and quiet of the last couple years.  That ends this year - even if nothing horrible happens, there's the additional coverage and inquisitiveness that comes with being Olympians.  If they thought it was bad being Olympians engaged to each other who were competing against each other, how much worse is it going to be now that they're Olympians married to each other competing against each other when they're the favorites for the gold and silver medal?Yuri, on the other hand, is looking forward to the year of boredom.  He doesn't have much competition in novices, but he's not old enough to move up.  Lev has gone away at least for now, and Yakov thinks it'll last a while.  He's not going to the Olympics like all of his rinkmates.  All he has to worry about is a new baby sibling and his crazy fan club.





	1. Chapter 1

Once Yuuri and Viktor were rested and caught up at school, it was time to start working on their new programs. For an Olympic year, Yakov was going to be a lot more critical of their programs, so they needed to think hard about them. There was no way Yakov would let Yuuri do something video game related. He’d have to come up with something serious.

Viktor spent twenty minutes arguing with Yakov about his programs, trying to talk him into letting him do an alien invasion theme. He was unsuccessful. “If this were any other Olympics, I’d let you do it, you’re certainly capable of pulling it off. This one is in Russia, though. As Russia’s top skater, you have a certain dignity to maintain.”

“Does that mean you’d let Yuuri do it?”

Yakov thought it over. “I suppose. He could pull it off, too.”

“YUURI!” Yuuri skated over, and Viktor explained the idea.

Yuuri rolled his eyes. “Didn’t I just do an alien invasion last year? And I did space last time it was an Olympics year. How am I supposed to surprise people if I go repeating myself like that?”

Viktor put a finger to his lips. “You could beat me to a quad loop!”

Yuuri stuck his tongue out at Viktor. “I don’t want to do another alien invasion. Save it for next year or give it to Yuri.”

“Fine. Betray me like that.” Viktor skated off to talk to Georgi.

Yuuri started giggling. Yakov gave him an odd look. “What?”

“Betrayal might be a fun theme.”

Yakov groaned. “Oh no. Not again. Remember what happened last time?”

It took a minute, and then Yuuri began waving his hands. “No, no, I wouldn’t prank anyone, no shenanigans like last time! I’d tell the truth about why I’m doing betrayal – because it sounded fun and there’s some great music out there that would be nice to skate to for it. I promise. I could even make Viktor happy and try to find something from a science fiction movie that involves a betrayal. The media will probably speculate, but I could do a theme of puppies and rainbows and they’d somehow manage to create a ridiculous explanation for it.”

Yakov nodded slowly. “All right. No shenanigans. Show me what you come up with.”

 

Yuuri came up with the “Willow Song” from Rossini’s Otello and music from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It wasn’t exactly an alien invasion, but Viktor accepted the peace offering. “Now if I could just come up with something fun for me. What about your exhibition?”

“I’m going to use an old program – the Lohengrin one. Yakov’s already approved it.”

Viktor started snickering when he remembered what the Lohengrin program was. “Your theme is betrayal and then your exhibition is a wedding song? I don’t know whether that’s horrible or brilliant.”

“How about both?” Yuuri hugged Viktor. “If the media starts getting horrible, I’ll tell them it’s a betrayal of my theme.”

Viktor laughed harder. “You have run this by Phichit and Mihara, right?”

“Mihara yes, Phichit not yet. I think at this point Mihara’s a bit resigned to me getting into trouble. He didn’t even try to talk me out of it, just told me to call if anything more serious than divorce rumors pop up because of it. If you think Isaak needs a warning, get him one.”

“More serious than divorce rumors? How could anything be more serious than that?” Viktor put a hand to his heart, staring at Yuuri in horror.

Yuuri shrugged. “We’ve had a lot of them. No one believes them anymore except the people who are determined to believe the absolute worst of us. But if something came out that I was cheating on you with someone, that’s new. All the cheating rumors have been about you, with me it was the poor innocent underage boy was lied to about being the wrong person’s soulmate.”

“True! And Phichit’s seventeen now, so there’s bound to be the story where someone’s read too much anime and Phichit asks you to teach him how to behave with a soulmate and you go along with it.”

Yuuri started giggling. “That would be awful. I love Phichit, but he’s kind of like a little brother! At least Yurio’s not old enough they’d start talking about one of us sleeping with him. Soulmate speculation is one thing, but… no.”

“I still don’t have my theme. What should I do?”

“Just commission some good music that you like and bullshit from there?”

Viktor thought that over. “Certainly can’t hurt to ask! Maybe when I hear the music it’ll tell me what my story for the year is.”

 

Sure enough, when Viktor got some samples, he was able to put together a story out of them. In his short program, it was the rise of a young hero to become the best, and then the free skate put him through the dark part of the journey, where outside forces tried to tear him down. His exhibition would be a wedding song for the happy ending, and also to coordinate with Yuuri.

Yuri kicked him when Viktor told him and Yuuri about it over dinner. “You’re doing a skate about yourself? Really?”

“Well, it’s metaphorical, but… yes. Why not? Everyone knows the story, but no reason I can’t skate it! What are you gonna do?”

“Rub in that it’s not an Olympic year and do something weird and fun like an alien invasion. Only I’m gonna be the invading aliens.”

Viktor put a hand over his mouth to help control the giggles. “And Lilia’s going to choreograph that?”

“Nah. Minako is. Lilia asked her when I told her what I was thinking. She said it’s a good idea to work with a bunch of different choreographers, at least for now, and so far I’ve worked with her and Viktor.”

“Shame it’s this year, I bet Yuuri would have fun choreographing an alien invasion, but Yakov would never approve of the distraction.”

Yuuri dropped his spoon into his soup with a splash. “I’ve never choreographed for anyone but myself before!”

“Not true! You’ve choreographed for me!” Not a full competitive program, Viktor had to admit, but Yuuri had choreographed for him. He had faith in his Yuuri to do a competitive program for Yurio this year, or for him most years.

Yuuri, unfortunately, didn't share that faith. “No, I’ve choreographed for myself and then given it to you to modify to fit your part of the choreography. That’s different.”

“Next year you should choreograph my programs, and I’ll do yours! Not this year, not with the Olympics, I’m not putting that kind of pressure on you. Especially with Yakov being stubborn about this being in Sochi and therefore everything must be perfect.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Off-season. Yuri gets some welcome news and then goes to America, where old wounds are reopened. Assignments happen.
> 
> Timeline: May-June 2013

May was quiet, with Georgi and Misha both gone on vacation, Viktor and Yuuri ironing out programs and working hard on their university work, Mila working hard to be ready for seniors, and Yuri for once taking it easy and spending some time goofing off on the ice. Yakov let him get away with it because Yuri slacking off looked like many novice skaters working hard. Mila’s fifteenth birthday was a fun day at the rink – Georgi and Misha had made it back, so everyone was there, and Yakov let them spend the entire day throwing freestyle songs at each other. Mila and Georgi both scrapped their original plans for their exhibitions to go with songs they got hit with. Yuri had his own private celebration a few days later, celebrating that Lev was not there to harass him on his birthday.

Toward the end of the month, Yuuri got a call from Kenjirou. “Hi, this is going to be weird, but Muroaka-senpai asked me to get a message to Yuri. He wants Yuri to know that they are not soulmates?”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know. He said that Yuri would probably understand why he felt the need to say it, but I don’t.”

Yuuri passed the message on to Yuri, who looked blank. “Who?”

“Muroaka Togai, the skater…”

“OH! That guy!” Yuri started snickering. “Good to know. Did he say who his soulmate is?”

“Not that Kenjirou told me about. You could probably ask Phichit if he’s said something? Why do you care?” It wasn't like Yuri to be interested in soulmate possibilities.

“I don’t, it’s just that my idiot Angels have been shipping us, so if he’s said something about who his soulmate actually is it makes it more likely they drop the weird shipping him with me.” Yuri pulled out his phone and texted Phichit. Phichit had an answer for him quickly. “He hasn’t said anything other than they will know soon, but he feels his soulmate deserves to hear it first and the time hasn’t been right to talk yet.”

“That’s not really a surprise. It’s pretty much expected in Japan that you talk to your soulmate before saying anything to the press. Looks like you’ll have to deal with the shipping until he says more.” Yuuri mussed Yuri’s hair. “Did you cut your hair?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, it’s temporary, I got some gum stuck in it and figured if I was having to cut some of it I may as well cut all of it. I’m still gonna grow it out.” Yuri reached up and touched his hair, a look of disgust on his face. “I’m seriously regretting the haircut, it sucks, but I don’t want to cut it any shorter. It’ll grow out, and novices don’t end up on TV that much.”

“There’s still YouTube.”

“Yeah, well. Can’t have everything.”

“Did you ask Vitya if there was another way to get gum out of your hair?”

“No. Probably should’ve, but didn’t think of it. If there’s a next time, I will.”

 

Phichit texted Yuri a couple weeks into June to let him know that Togai had publicly introduced his soulmate, and she was very decidedly not Yuri. “Only thing you two have in common is that you’re both skaters.”

“Good. This whole business is so stupid. I’m twelve, even if he were my soulmate I wouldn’t want him to come talk to me yet. You find out next year, right?”

“Yeah. I’ve always kinda expected that my soulmate would be older than me, but maybe not.”

“I thought you were hoping for Seung Gil. He’s younger than you.”

“Hopes and expectations aren’t the same thing, and I’m hoping for Seung Gil because that way next year I don’t have to get the phone call where he doesn’t have a soulmate or his soulmate sucks. Whoever my soulmate is, I’ll probably be happy with. Unless it’s JJ.”

Yuri snorted. “I wonder who the poor bastard is who does draw JJ as a soulmate.”

“What if it’s you and that’s why you hate him so much?” Phichit teased.

Yuri had several responses to that, but the one that finally came out was, “…Still better than Lev.”

“Is there someone you are hoping for?”

Yuri thought about it. While there were a couple people who he would like to have as his soulmate, getting his hopes up just seemed like a good way to get himself hurt. “Not really. Just someone decent. Not an Angel.”

 

Yuri took off for America not long after that for two weeks. It kind of sucked, because he ended up missing Misha’s birthday, but between Misha and Natasha and being there when Yakov read out assignments, he was happiest with that one.

It was a good trip. For the first week, Boris had work for Yuri if he was interested, which he was – work meant money for Grandpa. The second week, Irina was done working until after the new baby came, so she and Yuri went out running around New York, sightseeing and shopping and having a good time – until the day Yuri asked, “Why aren’t we bringing Natasha?”

“It’s good for kids to stick with their established routine, so Natasha’s going to keep going to the sitter even with me home. Things will get disrupted enough when the new baby gets here, we don’t want to disrupt her twice so quickly.”

“Three years old and you’re already dumping her off?”

Irina stopped in her tracks, whirling on her son. “Yuri Nikolayevich.”

“What?”

“I’m not dumping her off. I’m doing what’s best for her, not for me. I didn’t dump you off, either. Papa and I couldn’t take care of you, and once we could, we asked you to come home and you threw a fit and got Yakov and Viktor rigging up a ridiculous sponsorship scheme so you could stay. I wanted you home. You chose to stick with skating. Don’t be mad at me for choosing to start working again.”

Yuri glared at his mother. “If you thought it was so ridiculous, then why did you agree to it?”

“Because if Yakov and his skaters were fighting that hard for you, I’d already lost. I was one of Yakov’s skaters. I know what that means, how much of a family they are. I love you, and I know I made mistakes, but it was never because I didn’t love you or because I wanted you gone.”

“Tell that to an eight-year-old whose mother can’t be bothered to show up or even call for his birthday, or a nine-year-old whose mama shows up for his birthday to tell him that she’s got herself a new family. Tell that to a kid who gets to find out from a friend of a friend’s internet research who his father is.”

At the mention of Lev, Irina’s face hardened. “That’s it. We are going home, and you can sit in your room and think whatever you want. Hate me as much as you want.”

 

When Boris got home, he went in to talk to Yuri. “I hear you and your mama had a fight?”

“Yeah, and you’re going to take her side, you’re the reason she was such a shitty mama for two years.”

Boris leaned against the wall. “What brought that up?”

“Natasha. If Mama’s home…”

“Then Natasha should still be going to the sitter’s. She has a friend there, another girl her age that the sitter looks after, and it’s a good idea to keep her as close to her routine as possible as long as possible. It’s not like sending you to Yakov. Irishka still sees Natasha every day. She’s still in her life.”

“How long till she gets bored?”

“She didn’t dump you off with Yakov because she was bored. I know you don’t think much of me for how much of Stas’s life I missed, but until Lana left for college, I was there for her. I’m planning on being around for Natasha and the new baby, too.” Boris came over and squatted in front of Yuri. “The thing is, Irishka knows she made mistakes with you, that she should have stood up to me more about letting you be a priority. So why is she so angry that she won’t talk to me about it and she’s perfectly happy letting you sit in here the rest of your vacation?”

“I dunno. Maybe I should sit in here the rest of my vacation, as long as you guys let me out to play with Natasha when she’s here.”

A brief smile crossed Boris's face. “Of course. Your problems with me and your mama shouldn’t affect your relationship with Natasha at all. Yuri, did you say something about Lev?”

“Well, yeah, yet another way she failed me, letting me find out from Phichit…”

“That’s probably it, then. She’s a little… touchy… about that one. She still refuses to admit she did anything wrong, even seeing what you’ve had to deal with because of it. Keep your head down, play with Natasha tomorrow, and by the next day just act like nothing ever happened.”

Yuri thought that over. It sounded good, but there was one thing bugging him about it. “You’re not gonna make me apologize?”

“I probably should, but she’ll never apologize for handling Lev so badly, so why should you apologize to her for being angry about it?” Boris’s advice worked, and things were mostly normal by the time Yuri left. 

 

While Yuri was gone, Yuuri and Viktor went into full panic mode over finals – or at least, Yuuri did. Viktor just stayed up all night with Yuuri to keep him company, and made him go to bed when he could. Misha and Georgi had a great deal of fun pointing and laughing at the two of them. One day, when Yuuri showed up after a final looking like a zombie, Mila got down on her knees on the ice loudly thanking fate for making her a girl so that she didn’t have to try to do university and skating at the same time. “This is why you do online school, Mila. Much easier to work around a career,” Misha said. “Or get married and have a kid. I haven’t had to worry about it since Nika came.” They both passed with no problem, leaving them free to focus hard on their skating until assignments came out. Afterward, they were heading off to Australia.

Yuri was back in time for the assignments assembly. “Season starts at Skate America. Georgi and Yuuri, you’re up.”

Yuuri groaned. “Of course.”

“Biggest competition is Christophe, Su might be ready to make a move, Kaleb doesn’t tend to do well in the Grand Prix but he’s a good skater. You should both medal. Next up, Canada, that’s you, Misha. Some very strong competition in Bin, two Japanese skaters, Paul, Michele, and Rykov. I don’t know what to predict there, but you shouldn’t have trouble getting on the podium.”

Misha grinned. “Nice.”

“Bin may withdraw, but don’t count on it,” Yuuri said. Everyone looked at him curiously. “He’s expecting a child, and Mari’s due at the beginning of November. If it looks like the kid’s gonna come early, Bin said he’d withdraw so he could be there.”

“Okay. If Bin withdraws, Misha, you should be able to get gold. If he doesn’t, you still have a good chance, but he’s your biggest competition. Mila, you’re going to Canada, too. You’re not going to win. Kang Hee is there. Saila, Sara, and Rachelle, too.”

“Sara? My first competition I get to skate against Sara? That’s awesome!” Mila stood up and did a happy dance.

Yakov rolled his eyes. “Cup of China… Yuuri, you’re the only one from here. Not much in the way of competition, either, Jude and Kamil are the big threats. Don’t get distracted by Phichit and Seung Gil.”

Yuuri’s face lit up. “Phichit and Seung Gil are going to be there? This is going to be awesome!” He turned to Viktor. “Except that we haven’t heard your name yet, so you probably can’t come.”

“No. You’re in the NHK, along with Georgi and Chris. Kaleb, Rykov, and Sachio, too. That’s a crowded one. You cannot miss the practice the week before.”

Viktor nodded. “Fair enough. But Yuuri can come to Japan with me?”

“Of course. He won’t have anything until Finals or Nationals. Plenty of time. Misha, you’re up in France, along with Bin again, Jude, Michele, and Paul. You too, Mila. Kang Hee again, and Sako, too. Cathy… I’m interested to see how you match up against Raisa. It’ll be a good test for Nationals.”

Mila got up and danced again. “Two competitions, against two of my best friends. I bet Sara comes to watch this one, too, if Michele’s skating!”

“And then Viktor, you’re the only one here in the Rostelecom Cup, and with Kamil being the only real threat, no excuses. Su’s good, Phichit or Togai might do something, but I don’t see anyone who could beat you easily.”

"Yay! So only one time we miss each other, Yuuri!" Viktor hugged Yuuri.

Yakov waited for them to settle down. "Yuri, you're kicking off the season in September. I'm going to have to miss the NRW, it's the same time as the Cup of China, and Skate Celje for Trophee Bompard. There's a competition in Tallinn the week between Rostelecom and the Finals, if you want to go."

"Sure."

"And then Skate Helena's during Four Continents, and Ringhoffer's during the Olympics. I'll have to check specific dates on that one, but between team skating and needing to be there for men's and ladies', I may not be able to go."

"Minako can handle Four Continents for you," Yuuri said. "And I'll be okay in China."

"If it weren't for Viktor not getting to go I'd take you up on China, but I'm not leaving you there without Viktor or me, especially with your sister due around that time so Minako might not want to come. Four Continents, check with Minako, but if she's good with it I'll take you up on that."

"I don't need you in France," Misha said.

"You don't, but Mila does. Yuri, I'm sorry, it's a crazy season, but this is how it is this year."

Yuri shrugged. "Yeah, I know. Lilia will be there, I'll survive."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vacation Time!
> 
> Timeline: July 2013

Now that they had assignments and it was summer vacation, it was time for Viktor and Yuuri to run off to Australia for vacation. Their first stop was Melbourne, where they met up with Jude to wander around the city and go shopping. One notable stop was the zoo, where they made sure to get pictures of the lions and Sumatran tigers for Yuri. The Asian elephant exhibit was also a highlight of the trip, as were the adorable penguins.

Meeting Jude’s family was a bit of a surprise – his dad and younger sister were all he had. “No soulmate?” Viktor asked.

“I have one, but she’s fourteen right now. With me being seven years older than her, I have no intention of going to her until she’s eighteen. She said she didn’t mind me dating, but it just doesn’t feel quite right, so I keep it to flirting.”

“That’s sweet of you! And smart. Fourteen-year-old soulmates are a lot of trouble,” Viktor said, earning a smack from Yuuri. “What? If I’d thought I could keep it secret, I’d have waited a bit! I’m glad I didn’t, getting you to Yakov as soon as possible was a good thing, but if I’d come to you when you were sixteen instead of fourteen, we’d have avoided a lot of media bullshit.”

“I know. I’m glad you came when you did, too, but there were downsides.”

“And my soulmate’s not a skater, and my coach isn’t exactly Yakov Feltsman anyway, so it’s not like she’d be getting that benefit.”

When they left Melbourne, it was on the Great Ocean Road, where they got to see some spectacular views of beaches and cliffs. Viktor nearly lost his shit completely when he spotted a wild koala at a stop for pictures. From there, they flew north to Cairns, home of the Great Barrier Reef. Snorkeling was fun, and Yuuri and Viktor had a great time seeing things up close and personal instead of just in pictures. Even here, in the tropics, it was cool enough for them to be publicly affectionate as they went out for dinner or wandered around town shopping.

From there, it was off to the lava tubes of Undara Volcanic National Park, where they also got to search for gold and see kangaroos. This time, it was Yuuri losing his shit at the adorable creatures. From there, they flew to Sydney, for more shopping. While they were there, they went on a harbor cruise and visited a wildlife center where Viktor got to take pictures of Yuuri cuddling a koala. He died of cuteness overload and needed lots of cuddles and kisses to be fully restored to life.

On their last day in Australia, they went hiking in the Blue Mountains. Things went well, until Yuuri twisted his ankle and Viktor had to help him back to civilization. “Yakov is going to kill me. We’re missing so much practice, what if this isn’t better before we get back from Detroit?”

“It’s not that serious, Yuuri. If you ask nicely, Celestino will probably get you in with a trainer so you can be sure it’s not anything major. Besides, Yakov knows you didn’t hurt yourself being silly or reckless. If I were coming back injured, that would be a different story, but it’s you!”

 

When they got to Detroit, Phichit and Celestino picked them up at the airport. Celestino took one look at Yuuri limping and changed direction, heading for the rink instead of the hotel. “I’m not sending you back to Yakov without at least having it checked out. If there is something serious in there, the sooner it’s caught, the better your chances of skating this November. Phichit would never forgive me if you didn’t get to skate against him in November.”

“Yeah, Yuuri, you can’t do that to me. Seung Gil and Lukas and Mauno are great, but they’re not you!” Phichit grinned. “I can’t believe my first Grand Prix event is going to be so much fun. So many friends there. Nebelhorn is the one that’s got me freaking out. First senior competition and it already has huge stakes. No one's expecting me to make the Grand Prix Finals, they're just looking for me to earn some respect for Thailand, but my skating federation is putting a lot of pressure on me to do well enough at Nebelhorn to get an Olympic slot.”

“Speaking of Nebelhorn,” Celestino said. “I talked to JJ’s dad. He’s going to coach JJ in Belarus, so I can be at the Nebelhorn with you.”

“JJ didn’t move up?” Yuuri said. “He’s old enough for the Olympics, right?”

“Right, but Clarien and Kyle didn’t do well enough last year to get two slots, and the LeRoys agreed with me that since it was unlikely Canada would pick JJ over whichever of them did better this season, JJ was better off staying in Juniors another year. It’s different for Phichit, Thailand doesn’t have another senior male skater, and Seung Gil’s better than either of Korea’s top skaters from last year. Paul should be able to get America’s slot. I’m really surprised they only got one, but Paul’s been clearly the best for years.”

“Leo’s going to change that when he’s old enough!” Phichit said. “He didn’t move up this year for the same reason, he wasn’t going to beat out Paul for the Olympics so he might as well stay in Juniors and take advantage of so many of us having moved up.”

 

Yuuri’s ankle checked out – the trainer advised resting it for a couple days, but since he was on vacation anyway, that should happen. While they were in Detroit, they celebrated JJ’s 16th birthday with him, and spent the rest of their time hanging out with Paul, Skye, Phichit, and Otabek. JJ had latched on to Otabek, who tolerated JJ reasonably well. It was quite the surprise. “Does Yuri know about this?” Yuuri said.

Otabek shrugged. “I’ve told him. He doesn’t quite believe me. I don’t see why it should matter to him. It’s not like I’m going to try to make the two of them hang out. Leo, I think Yuri will like, but I know better than to try to force Yuri and JJ to be around each other.”

“Despite JJ’s best efforts to convince him otherwise,” Phichit added with a huge grin. “I think JJ has a crush.”

“I do not have a crush on Yuri,” JJ said. "I just think he'd be a cool friend. You guys seem to love him."

“He says he doesn’t have a crush on Isabella, either, but I’ve been in Detroit for three weeks and I’ve heard more about Isabella than about half his siblings combined,” Otabek said.

“Hey, could be both!” Phichit suggested. “Some people have more than one soulmate, why limit yourself to one crush?”

"I don't have a crush on either of them. You guys are silly. Isabella and I have been friends since, like, third grade. I'm closer with her than I am with most of my siblings, of course I talk about her a lot!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three birthdays and some silliness.
> 
> Timeline: August 2013

At the start of August, Yuri was starting to get a little on edge. His mama was due soon, but he remembered all too well how long it took to find out about Natasha. Would she be any better this time? Would the new baby have the problems Natasha had at first that had made things bad for Mama? He wasn’t planning on going out there again until Christmas, which was fine because the baby wouldn’t remember him anyway and he remembered how boring Natasha was when she was a baby. He still wanted to know.

He couldn’t help the swoop in his stomach when Yakov called him off the ice to take a phone call. If Yakov was allowing it, that meant it was important, which probably meant family. Boris, as it turned out. He sounded a bit tired, which made sense, as Yuri estimated that it was probably the middle of the night in New York. “Sorry if I’m interrupting practice, but if Yakov gives you trouble about it, tell him that your baby sister is important.”

“Something’s wrong with Natasha?”

“No, well, she’s not exactly happy about getting woken up to get taken to her sitter on the way to the hospital, but I meant Katya. She was born a little before midnight and so far, everything seems good. No trouble nursing like we had with Natasha, and certainly nothing wrong with her lungs. Your mama’s sleeping for now, and they’re saying I’ll be able to take them both home tomorrow unless something comes up.” Boris paused. “Today.”

“Katya? Did you do that just so Natasha and I would like her more?”

Boris barked out a laugh. “No, we did that because we both liked the name, but if it helps Natasha accept her new sister more easily, that’s a nice side benefit.”

“So are you mad she didn’t wait another four days so she’d be born on your birthday?”

“No, I was hoping she wouldn’t be born on my birthday. Four days is enough that she won’t have to deal with sharing her birthday with me.”

 

Yuuri had a great deal of fun teaching himself his new program. He was very much looking forward to the first interview after the press saw it. Things at the rink were fun, too, as no one was in any hurry to gear up for the Grand Prix. The first competition for any of them wasn’t until mid-September, so August was still a time to play around, work on new skills, and enjoy the fun parts of skating without the stress.

Going to Hasetsu for the triplets’ birthday was not going to happen, but Viktor and Yuuri both planned a day off for it so they could talk over Skype. The girls were turning into little terrors, and they’d learned to read enough to get themselves in trouble with the cell phone, and their sneakiness had only improved. “Viktor, you should be so proud of your nieces, I swear they’re little ninjas,” Takeshi said.

Viktor clapped. “I am very proud of them! They’re going to be troublemakers when they get into their teenage years. They’d fit right in at Yakov’s rink!”

“If they’re skaters. We’re going to teach them, it’s in their blood, but they may not want to put forth the effort to be competitors. Axel I think will, she’s got a thing for medals still, but I’m not sure about Lutz or Loop.”

“If they do become competitive skaters, I wonder if they’ll use their real names or their nicknames on the ice,” Yuuri said. “It would be kind of funny if Lutz became a skater but had trouble with the Lutz jumps.”

Yuuko started giggling. “That might be something they use to decide what name to skate under. If Axel can get a reliable triple axel, I can’t think why she wouldn’t want to use Axel. It’s not like anyone ever uses their real names. I’m not sure they _know_ their real names. Even Mom’s given up!”

“Has she started pulling any bullshit about their soulmates?”

“Not yet, they’re three! She didn’t start in on me until I was fifteen and it got reasonable to think my soulmate might show up. Of course, maybe she did and she just didn’t call it that, she kind of raised me a bit old-fashioned. It didn’t take.”

 

The reason Viktor and Yuuri couldn’t get out to Hasetsu was that they had to go to Moscow for a few days. They brought Yuri with them to visit Nikolai, but Viktor and Yuuri were there for Sasha and Rykov’s wedding. Viktor was Sasha’s only living close family, so he had a very important part to play. It had taken a while and several promises from Viktor to get Yuuri to agree to it, but Yuuri would also be playing a part in the ceremony.

Some cousins, along with Yuri, Mila, and Sasha’s gymmates, did the work of setting up the gauntlet for Rykov to get through to claim his bride. Viktor was the last guardian, and once he’d been duly paid off, he sent Yuri in to fetch the bride. Yuuri came out. The look on Rykov’s face was priceless. “How did they convince you to go along with this?”

“It’s all in good fun, they promised, and Viktor… you probably don’t want to know specifics, but he promised to make it worth the embarrassment.”

Rykov shook his head with a grin. “Viktor coming out as the fake bride, that I expected. Never thought it’d be you.”

“Well, what do you want to do now?” Viktor asked.

Rykov’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “I don’t know. I kind of like this bride. You certainly don’t need the money, so maybe I’ll just keep this one.”

“Wow. I am so telling Sasha you said that,” Veronika said. “Come on, Valery, pay up. Pretty sure Yuuri doesn’t want you.”

“Yeah, come on, I only like champion figure skaters. You’re good, but you’re no Viktor Nikiforov.”

Rykov stuck his tongue out at Yuuri, but he counted some more bills into Viktor’s hand. “Fine. Who wants a jumped-up nobody who rides his soulmate’s coattails to success anyway? My real bride is an Olympic medalist!”

Viktor took a step toward Yuuri, putting a hand on his shoulder, and sent Yuri to go get Sasha. Yuri returned very quickly with a beat-up stuffed tiger in a very poorly-fitting doll’s wedding dress and veil. “You’d better take good care of her.”

“What…”

“You want Sasha, there she is.” Yuri gestured at the tiger.

The human Sasha appeared then. “Or you could have me. Your choice.”

Rykov handed Yuri back his tiger. “I choose you.”

 

On the way to the church, Rykov leaned over to Yuuri. “Sorry about the crack, earlier. I hope it wasn’t too over the top. Didn’t think about your anxiety thing…”

“No, it was fine, all part of the fun and I know it. If Viktor or I believed for a second you meant it, you’d be saying your vows with a broken nose.”

“Heh. Good. I’d love to see this year change that particular distinction between you and Sasha anyway – unless we get a Russian sweep, anyway.”

“Yakov’s made it very clear that the only way he accepts anything less than a Russian sweep is if it’s me, since I’m Russian in all but name anyway. It being in Sochi is driving him a little crazy.”

“At least he’s not gonna deliberately neglect you or hold you back. Don’t be surprised when you see those accusations in the press. I know you’ve heard them before, but they’re gonna be worse because of Russia hosting the Olympics.”

“I know. I’m not going to hold back on what I think of those rumors.”

 

The ceremony was beautiful, and Viktor and Yuuri joined Sasha and Rykov for their just-married tour of Moscow to take selfies before going to the party for toasts and drinking. Three days later, they headed back to Saint Petersburg, giggling over the photos of Yuuri in a wedding dress that had leaked out. At least one person had taken them seriously, or at least pretended to, and written about Yuuri leaving Viktor for his real love, breaking both Nikiforovs’ hearts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was so late - I've been fighting off some sort of sickness. Still not feeling 100% but I was not going to wait any longer on this.


	5. Chapter 5

Toward the end of August, Yakov had a meeting with Russia’s Olympic committee. He came back in a very foul mood, and he called all his skaters together. “I am under a lot of pressure right now. They want Russia to dominate this Olympics, since it’s in our country. This meeting was them trying to convince me to make sure my athletes had every advantage.”

“Meaning doping?” Viktor said.

“Meaning doping. Especially you, Misha, since the last couple seasons you’ve had injury problems."

Misha scoffed. "I've made it this far without doping. If I can't beat out Rykov without it, he deserves the spot more than I do."

"Rykov and his coach are probably getting the same pressure," Georgi said. "On the theory that if we won't, maybe Rykov can beat one of us with the help and represent Russia better."

"Likely. I hope Rykov has the sense to turn that down. Mila, they're also pushing pretty hard on you, since Raisa and Alena are hardly dominant."

"No thanks, I have enough crappy hormones messing with me," Mila said.

Yakov smiled at that. "I told them to go to hell, that my skaters don’t need that advantage. They may try to go around me to talk directly to you. If I find out that any of you accept that offer, you’re going to be going to the Olympics without a coach. I have potentially five skaters there, I love you all, but it will not break my heart to cut that workload down to four. Misha, Mila, you guys are going to get the worst of the pressure, if you need help telling them to fuck off, let me know.”

Yuuri raised his hand. “You know Minako will come help out as much as you want her to.”

“I know, and that’s the other thing they wanted to talk to me about. They want true Russian dominance, and as much as we all consider you one of us, Yuuri, you skate for Japan. They didn’t tell me to sabotage you, exactly, but they did tell me to be sure to take care of my Russian skaters. I have no intention of neglecting or sabotaging you. I’m not going to treat you any differently from any of the others except that they’re not going to be approaching you to offer doping access so I’m not going to be worrying about that, and you do have Minako to come look out for you. If you feel like I am, call me out on it.”

It was nice to hear, but Yuuri didn't need to. “I trust you, Yakov. You’ve never done anything but your best for me.”

“And I don’t intend to start, but with the pressure from the Olympic committee added to the Russian Skating Federation, I’d feel better knowing that you’ll call me out on it if I do.”

“Yes, sir! I’ll do that, then.”

 

Mila still had friends skating in the Junior Grand Prix, so she paid attention to it, and started bouncing in excitement when Leo won the first gold. “You know the strangest part, though, he says the gold medal wasn’t the best thing about his trip to Latvia.”

“Oh? What was?” Yuuri asked.

“He made a new friend. Yuri, do you know Ji Guang Hong?”

Yuri looked up from his phone. “Yeah, a little, I skated against him a couple years ago in the Challenger Cup. Kinda shy, but Kenjirou said he’s really sweet.”

“That’s what Leo says, too. They’ve apparently been friends for a couple years now, because of social media, but it wasn’t until Leo posted about being in first after the short program that they realized who the other one was!”

“Nice! No one tell Phichit, he’ll die of how cute that is,” Yuuri said. “How did Guang Hong do?”

“Bronze, behind Saviliy. Look how cute they are on the podium!” Mila showed them a picture where the three medalists stood together with their medals and flowers, but Guang Hong was looking at Leo instead of the cameras.

 

The next week, only Yuri paid much attention – Ivo wasn’t exactly a friend, but they’d skated against each other a fair bit. Ivo did respectably, but didn’t medal. Meanwhile, Yuuri and Viktor were busy preparing to go back to school. Yuuri was looking forward to his classes – lots of translation and literature classes this year, this time including a project for the semester. Viktor once again had a lot of choices for electives around a term project. “I love how they call this a world history program, but so far, it’s been nearly all European,” he said as he looked over his schedule. “Oh, wait, next semester there’s ‘History of Asian and African Countries’. As an elective. Well I know which one I’m taking!”

Yuuri snorted. “The week or so they spend on Japan you’ll probably know more than your professor already.”

“I know, but don’t crush my dreams! At least it’s something outside of Europe, right? Oh, there’s also ‘History of Latin America’! I can’t wait to find out how much of that and however long we spend on Africa is all about the European colonization.”

Yuuri shook his head. “Good luck.”

 

For whatever reason, there wasn’t a qualifier the next weekend, but the weekend after, Yuri was very interested since JJ, Emil, and Otabek were all skating. JJ won gold, to Yuri’s disgust, Emil bronze, and Otabek just missed the podium.

_Nice skating. Shame you didn’t medal._

**_Yeah, I’m pretty disappointed. Just means I have to work even harder. Can’t believe JJ pulled off that score._ **

_Me either. Your other qualifier’s not gonna be easy either. Gabriel should’ve moved up, and Emil again._

**_But not JJ at least. Good luck in your competition!_ **

_I don’t need it, but thanks._

**_You don’t need it for the competition, no. Good luck on keeping Lev under whatever rock he found to crawl under._ **

Yuri couldn’t help the laughter. That luck, he was happy to accept. The Lombardia Trophy was in Milan, and despite there being a good number of entries, Yuri only recognized Richard’s name. That was slightly disappointing – he was looking forward to competing against Klaus again. Yakov wasn’t going to let him do triples unless someone else did one in the short program, but that was okay, Yuri didn’t expect to need them.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lombardia Trophy, Junior Grand Prix, and Phichit gets thrown under a bus by a rinkmate.
> 
> Timeline: September-October 2013

Richard came to find Yuri almost immediately. “Good to see you! Next year, you’re going to juniors, I assume?”

“Yeah, no reason to stay in novices. Are you going up?”

“I haven’t decided yet. It’ll depend how much progress I make on triples this year. My mom wants me to stay in novices another year so I can win some gold medals she can brag about to her friends, but my mère wants me to move up. I have no idea which of them is going to win that fight, so I’m just sitting back and working on my skills and waiting for my coach to decide whether she thinks I should move up or not.”

“Ugh. It’s your career, shouldn’t you get to decide?”

“I’m also twelve.”

“So am I, you don’t see me letting my mama say what I’m going to do with my skating career.”

“Your mama was a skater herself so she understands things better. My parents are a bank vice-president and a software company manager. They support me skating, but they don’t really understand how it all works. There’s also that your mama kind of crapped out on you for a couple years, so you don’t really have much reason to listen to her.”

“Yeah, I guess. Still.”

“It’s my career, but Mom and Mère are still paying for most of it. I have a couple sponsorships, but nothing major. Not like you. It’ll probably be different when I’m fifteen and looking at whether I should move up to seniors, but for now, they’re taking the attitude that if they’re paying for it, they get to decide how it works.”

Yuri huffed. “Doesn’t mean they’re right.”

“No, but it doesn’t mean they’re wrong, either. Mom’s got a point, if I stay back a year and win some gold medals here before going to juniors, it would help. You don’t have anything left to do in novices. The only reason you’re still here is your age. It’s different for me. When you get up there, you’re going to be an immediate medal favorite, even gold medal favorite. Me, not so much.”

“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get the final say in the decision.”

“I think I might, if Mom and Mère can’t talk each other around. It’s not like they’re going to just decide for me, they’ll ask me what I want to do, talk to my coach to see what she thinks.”

 

Yuri got to skate last for the short program, and he didn’t bother to watch anyone before him except Richard. That one made him smile, as Richard’s program was cute – music from Harry Potter, and the skate looked like a battle with a dragon or something. It got him a good score, too, well over 30, for the lead.

Yuri’s alien invasion theme started off with the building of suspense, to music from War of the Worlds, ending with the invasion itself at the end of the short program. His character, an alien, sent out warning shots. His jumps went well, and his combo spin was impressive. He had no trouble at all connecting to this program, and his performance reflected that. Yakov, of course, had a lot to say, but the 36 was close to the best he’d ever done without triples in a short program. Yuri was very proud of himself for it, considering how early in the season it was.

On the second day of skating, the Angels showed up. Yuri had noticed the lack of them the day before, but to say he’d missed them was going way too far. Yuri dealt with it, signing autographs for as long as people came up to him. He was able to escape well before the competition was due to begin, at least. Richard gave him a sympathetic smile. “There are some advantages to not being the rising superstar. I’ve got a bit of a following back home, but nothing like your international group of crazies.”

“Phichit wants to set me up with another group of crazies and then pit them against each other. I think he’s crazier than any of the Angels.”

“How do you win that fight without stooping to their level of crazy?”

“And if we do go to their level of crazy, how do we pull them back after winning?” Yuri shook his head. “If it gets bad enough I may do it, but for now, at least, I’m going to just sit back and do my best to ignore the crazy. Lev’s gone, for now, so I can hope they’ll get some better leadership and grow out of the creepy, invasive shit.”

“Good luck with that.”

There were some good scores before Richard took the ice – another dragon fight, this time to music from The Hobbit. Richard got up over 50, which was really good. Yuri was going to win, but Richard had just gotten himself silver.

For the free skate, Yuri the Alien Invader battled humanity to very near defeat, only to be turned back as he came in for the final blow. His jumps were good, although he struggled a bit with a double axel-double loop combination, and he was very proud of his performance as he landed his final double salchow. His score was huge, he knew even before it popped up, and although the 60.7 wasn’t quite his best tripleless free skate score, his 97 beat his overall. For the first competition of the year, he was thrilled, as was Yakov.

 

With Yuri’s skating over, he was free to watch the weekend’s Grand Prix Qualifier. Guang Hong and Kenjirou were both skating in it. Guang Hong took silver, while Kenjirou took fourth place. Silver and bronze gave Guang Hong a good shot at going to the finals. The gold medalist, a Spanish skater, likely guaranteed himself a trip, with an earlier bronze medal.

Next up was the Nebelhorn, which Yuuri, Viktor, and Yuri gathered to watch. Phichit, Seung Gil, and others were skating for their shot at the Olympics. Both Phichit and Seung Gil came through, qualifying spots for Thailand and South Korea. Phichit could already expect to be given the slot; Seung Gil would have to win his Nationals.

Yuuri called Phichit as soon as it was announced to squeal together. “You did so well! I can’t wait to skate against you in the Olympics!”

“I know! Ciao Ciao is ecstatic. He was almost certainly going to the Olympics anyway because of Paul, but to have me there too is a big deal for him. I am so freaking excited. Oh, and Ciao Ciao knows about the nickname now.”

“What happened?”

“Amy and JJ got in a shouting match about hockey while Ciao Ciao was trying to help me clean up my triple axel, and Amy said something about you shouldn’t be allowed to skate for Ciao Ciao if you don’t support the Red Wings. Amy immediately threw me under the bus as the one who started it, of course. He _says_ it’s ridiculous and not at all the appropriate way to address your coach, but he never really does anything about it so we’ve all started just calling him Ciao Ciao to his face half the time. I think he secretly likes it.”

Meanwhile, the Junior Grand Prix continued in Minsk, where Leo won his second gold of the season and earned a trip to the finals, while JJ took silver and guaranteed himself a trip as well. Saviliy took bronze, which gave him a chance. Emil took gold in Ostrava, over Gabriel’s silver and Otabek’s bronze. Otabek would not be going to the Grand Prix Finals, but he took it well. “I wasn’t expecting to get to go this year, Yuri. It’s okay. Maybe next year.”

In the final qualifier, Kenjirou took silver, which had him very excited. He wasn’t going to the Finals, but a silver in the Grand Prix was exciting! Leo, JJ, and Emil were all finalists. Whatever the Saccharine Six ended up being this year, the junior contingent would still be strong.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skate America! As expected, Yuuri's theme sets off some rumors.
> 
> Timeline: October 2013

Going to Detroit was going to be fun. The competition had several of Yuuri’s friends, and being in Detroit meant that Phichit and Paul should be able to come hang out too, even with Paul having Skate Canada the next week. Phichit was at the airport to meet them, even. “Hi guys! Isn’t this great? I’m so happy Ciao Ciao is letting me come! We are going to have so much fun here.”

“Yes, we are!” Yuuri hugged Phichit. “Anyone else here yet?”

“Chris got in a couple hours ago, Skye’s here, obviously. That’s it so far. Yuuko’s due in about fifteen minutes, if you’d like to wait for her and whoever’s coming with her.”

“Sounds good to me!” Viktor said. “Georgi, Yakov, if you guys want to go on, we won’t mind.”

Yuuko and Takeshi were the only ones who came from Hasetsu. “Mari’s getting close, and everything looks fine, but everyone wanted to be there,” Yuuko explained. “Bin’s kind of freaking out about Skate Canada – Mari’s not due until November, but babies come early sometimes.”

“I can imagine. What’s Mari telling him?”

“That he should go to Skate Canada unless she tells him otherwise. Your mom said that you and she were both a little late, so Mari’s more likely to be late than early.”

“Do they know whether it’s a boy or girl?” Phichit asked.

“It’s a boy. They’ve even got the name picked out already. Mari is getting really excited about the prospect of getting the kid out of her, which I can sympathize with. I didn’t go full term, and I was ready to be done, too.”

 

Hanging out in Detroit was awesome – Phichit, Paul, and Skye helped them find some cool stuff to do that was out of the standard tourism, and because Phichit was there, they got to hang out with some people they’d never really spent much time with before.

The men’s short program was the first event of the competition, and it started off well. Yulian was in the first group, as were both Chinese skaters. Su was the first to get up over 80, and Chris ended the first group with a very strong 87. In the second group, Georgi skated second. Since Yuuri would be skating right after him, the two walked out together. Georgi started the season off well for Yakov’s skaters, putting up an even better 91.

Yuuri had never started a season above 90, but this would be a good season to start. His program was difficult, he had the skills, he just had to execute the way he knew how. He was starting off big with a quad toe loop, which went well. His next jump didn’t come until the second half of his program, where his triple axel was solid as usual. His flying layback spin went very well, but his final combination wasn’t as good as he started wondering what the press was going to say about him doing Otello.

Yakov started there. “It’s not like you to lose focus, but it’s even less like you to have stamina problems in the short program. Which was it?”

“Distraction. I was still thinking about the program, but not the jump.”

“Don’t do that.” Yakov went through the program talking about what to work on. The score was still great – almost 95, at the first competition of the season, and Yuuri was perfectly happy to accept that. By the Olympics, he should be able to do even better. It held up through the last two skaters.

They’d promised no shenanigans, but Viktor couldn’t resist, and told Yuuri that he was skipping the post-skate interviews. The press was eager to ask. “Your theme is betrayal. Why?”

“Viktor was very upset about how I betrayed him and I thought it would be a neat theme. I love the music, and I had fun with the choreography.”

Gasps. “How did you betray Viktor?”

“He wanted to do an alien invasion theme, and he managed to get Yakov to say that I could do it if I wanted to – and then I said I didn’t want to. Viktor can be a bit dramatic and he claimed I betrayed him, and that got me thinking. I had my music chosen by the end of the day.”

“Yuri Plisetsky is doing an alien invasion.”

“When I said I wasn’t going to, Yuri pounced. He loved the idea and put his own spin on it.”

As expected, the internet exploded with rumors about Yuuri’s real betrayal. Phichit got the Hamsters out reassuring people that yes, Viktor really is that extra and that big a dork, Yuuri’s explanation of the betrayal sounded perfectly in character for him. It certainly made more sense than one of them cheating on the other, or a divorce looming, or Yuuri saying no more poodles after Makkachin and Vicchan died.

Viktor loved that one. “That would be a horrible betrayal! I thought you loved poodles as much as I do!”

“I didn’t when I was a kid, but after getting Vicchan, I fell in love. Taking time to grieve, yes, but I don’t want to be poodleless for long.”

 

Anya and Christov finished second in the short dance. The second day started with pairs, and then the ladies’ short program. Skye had the lead, followed by Yuuko, Sako, and Raisa. Alena struggled, finishing seventh for the day. It looked good for Mila’s chances, if she could keep herself calm and skate well.

There wasn’t much shakeup in the men’s program. Kaleb didn’t do anywhere near as well as he was capable of, but he never did do very well in the Grand Prix, so Yuuri didn’t think much of it. On the other hand, one of the American skaters had the best performance of his career. Chris, with the help of his quad Lutz, managed a very high score, high enough to pass Georgi for second. Not high enough that Yuuri was too worried about it.

Yuuri didn’t get off to a very good start, barely getting the triple toe loop after a quad flip around before landing, and then having trouble again with the next combo. Every single jump, with the exception of a solo triple axel, he ended up struggling enough with that he was almost afraid to go over to Yakov. At least his spins were solid, and his choreography and step sequence were both good. Surprisingly, Yakov didn’t give him much grief. He went through the criticisms, as always, but Yuuri had expected getting yelled at for not being able to figure out what was happening out there and fix it. His 184 went a long way toward reassuring Yuuri, but he still wasn’t happy with how he skated.

This time, Viktor came out and stood beside Yuuri with an arm around him. “Viktor, did you hear Yuuri’s explanation of his betrayal of you?”

“Yes, I did.”

“And?”

“And it’s completely accurate! That is exactly what happened.”

“Seriously?”

Viktor winked at the reporters. “He may also be drawing on the way he betrayed me to do a pirate theme entirely because of how much I love ninjas. There’s that possibility that shouldn’t be ignored!”

“Yuuri, you’re very close to some records. Do you think you’ll get those this year?”

“I don’t know. I think I’ll get above the current record scores, yes, but I’m not sure I’ll have the records. Viktor’s programs are also very challenging, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him set new records before I break the old ones. It’s an Olympic year; we’re all going as hard as we can.”

Rumors still swirled, but with Viktor confirming things, the Hamsters didn’t need to fight back as hard. Anya and Christov took silver in ice dance, setting them up comfortably for the Finals. Skye held on for gold in the ladies’ skate, with Yuuko silver and Sako gold. Raisa placed a respectable fourth, while Alena dropped to eighth.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skate Canada, NRW, Yuri suffers through some annoying shit.
> 
> Timeline: October 2013

The media furor over the exhibition skate being a wedding song was almost laughably tiny, compared to the days before. They had a week off between America and China where they got to watch Misha and Mila in Canada. Bin had the lead after the short program, followed closely by Misha, with Michele and Rykov separated by less than a point for third and fourth. Togai had a fall that held him back, and Paul also had a very disappointing skate. In the free skate, Michele and Rykov stayed very close, Michele just barely holding Rykov off, while Misha soared. Bin, on the other hand, collapsed. Not quite literally, but he finished in fourth.

After the free skate, Yuuri immediately got on the phone with Mari. He could almost see the eyeroll. “I’m fine, baby’s not coming yet, I don’t know what Bin’s problem was but it wasn’t that I told him he was missing his baby’s birth. I talked to him right before the free skate started, told him that I was fine and that he should probably come here after the exhibition skate but he had plenty of time to stay for that.”

Meanwhile, in the ladies’ skate, Kang Hee continued to dominate. Mila looked a little nervous during her short program, finishing fifth, but between Saila’s expected drop and Rachelle making a couple major mistakes, she managed to take bronze. There was a lot of squealing when she called to talk about it. “My first senior competition, and I was on the podium with Sara! Can you believe it? That was a quick dream come true moment.” Jolanda and Masumi got a gold medal in the ice dance, while Olesya and Anatolij got the bronze.

 

Yuri left for Dortmund almost immediately after Misha and Mila got back. Yakov wanted to go with him, but didn’t feel like he could. “Behave yourself for Lilia, call or text if Lev shows up, and don’t hold back. I’m expecting to see triples. Go for whatever you think you have. I would like to see you get over 90 in the free skate.”

“I’ll do my best. Thanks.” Yuri hung up and pulled out the homework he’d brought with him.

Before the short program, he spotted Lev hanging around and pointed him out to Lilia. “Figures it was too much to hope he’d stay gone.”

“Indeed. Don’t worry. Tell Yakov he’s here, stay close to me, and if he approaches you while you’re out with your friends, call.”

Lev left Yuri alone that day, at least, even when there was no way he could have missed that Yuri was there because he got mobbed by shrieking Angels. One of the Angels even said that her sister - a psychic - knew that the two of them were soulmates. "Great. How old are you?"

"Eleven!"

"See you in six years, then." He moved on to the next Angel, trying to forget that had just happened.

By the time Yuri left to get ready for his skate, he was starting to freak out a little. He was able to calm himself down, at least. Klaus could be trouble, and Richard was here. Yuri skated twelfth of fourteen. When he took the ice, Richard was in the lead, with an easily beatable 35. Time to prepare an alien invasion. The triple Lutz was clean, his spins strong. His final jump was a triple flip-triple toe loop combo, which he pulled off well. He’d been practicing, so Yakov wouldn’t yell at him. There’d be a critique once Yakov had the chance to call, but Yuri’s 49 was a personal best and, after Klaus skated, good enough for a 12-point lead. It was also motivation – at one of the other competitions he was allowed to go nuts with triples, he was going to break 50.

 

On the second day, Yuri still hadn’t seen Lev any closer than across a crowded hallway when he hit the locker room to prepare for his free skate. He really didn’t want to deal with Lev, but this waiting for the other shoe to drop was getting old. He said as much to Lilia as she fixed his hair.

“I wouldn’t mind the other shoe turning out to be Lev getting arrested for something to do with not you. I don’t know what his deal is, but I won’t let him hurt you and he’s out of cards to play to convince you to give him a chance.”

“Yeah, I know, but I hate waiting. Rather just deal with shit.”

“Perhaps as you grow up, you’ll learn to be more patient and less impulsive. Unlikely, considering those you look up to, but I hope your Kazakhstani friend will be a good influence.”

Yuri spun around to glare at Lilia. “Is that supposed to mean something?”

“It means that Yakov and Vitya and Misha are all very impulsive people whose patience tends to be rather thin unless there’s something important enough involved, and Yuuri is easily led into trouble by Vitya the way Kolya always was by Yakov. Otabek seems to be much more steady and sensible. The two of you have become close friends, and I hope he shares that with you rather than you making him impulsive.”

“Oh. Okay.” Yuri turned back to his phone.

“What did you think I meant?”

“Well, y’know. I keep getting stupid soulmate rumors.” Which he knew Lilia wouldn't buy into, but still. He was a little sensitive after the day before.

“Otabek is fourteen. Unless you two ran off and got tested, he wouldn’t know.”

“Fifteen. Today’s his birthday.”

“The point stands. Regardless of whether you’re soulmates, the two of you have a close friendship. It didn’t work with Yakov and Kolya, but perhaps it will for you and Otabek.”

In the free skate, Yuri barely glanced at the scores when he went out. He could check later to see how much he won by. Yakov had set him a challenge, and he was going to get it. It started well, with a triple flip-triple toe loop combo, and got better with his combination spin. His triple salchow was strong, and by the time he’d landed his double axel clean he was starting to look ahead to the wait for the 90. He only had two jumps left. The triple loop went fine, but then he fell on the triple toe loop.

Lilia looked him over with concern as he came over to the Kiss and Cry, tears flowing. “Are you all right, Yuri? I didn’t see anything that looked like you being hurt, but is there something wrong?”

“No. It’s just… the toe loop? I did every triple except an axel, and the stupid _toe loop_ is the one I fuck up?”

“Language, Yurotchka.”

“Sorry. I’m just frustrated.” It got worse when Yuri’s score popped up – not quite 89. Close enough that if he’d just landed the toe loop, he’d have gotten 90.

While waiting for Yakov to call, Yuri called Otabek. “Happy birthday, dude. Do anything fun?”

“Not yet. JJ’s taking me to a party. We’re leaving in a few minutes and I’m trying to decide if he’s messing with me on this.” Otabek sent Yuri a selfie of himself dressed as a gladiator. “They said everyone’s going to be wearing a costume.”

“Probably. Halloween and all. Then again, it’s JJ, so who knows. Least it looks good, not something lame like a Disney character or something.”

“I made JJ promise that we’d be home in time to watch Phichit, so there’s that. How’d you do?”

“Well, I won, obviously, but it kind of sucked too.” Yuri explained what had happened. “So now I’m pissed off, and Lev is here, and I haven’t talked to Yakov yet but he’s going to chew me out.”

“Lev is there? Shit.”

“Yeah. He’s left me alone, but… part of me kinda wants to just go confront him and ask him what the fuck he’s doing.”

“Don’t. If the temptation gets too bad, text me. Could be his plan to goad you into approaching him, which he can use to start pushing his way back in. After all, you started it.”

“Fuck. Hadn’t thought of that. Thanks.”

“I gotta go, JJ’s here, but if you need me, text.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cup of China, where the inevitable happens. Then, baby time!

Viktor didn’t get to go to Beijing, much to his disappointment, considering that Phichit and Kamil both would be there. Yuuri wasn’t too worried about being on his own, considering Phichit would be there, but naturally, he missed his husband on the flight out. “You’re going to be okay, Yuuri?” Yakov asked.

Yuuri nodded. “I miss Vitya, but I’ll be okay. Phichit won’t let me mope too much.”

Phichit lived up to the reputation, glomping Yuuri as soon as he got to the hotel. “You’re not allowed to sit around and mope, you know. Some of us have never been to Beijing and we need you as tour guide!”

“I know. We’re going to go have fun, I promise. Who all is coming with us?”

“Emily, Cathy, they’re bringing Madlene, Seung Gil, Lukas, Mauno, Jude, Kamil, and me. Assuming we don’t pick up anyone else.”

They had a lot of fun exploring Beijing, with Yuuri and Lukas acting as tour guides. When Yuuri called Viktor that night, there were several fun stories of Phichit and Cathy’s antics, like Phichit climbing up on a very precarious perch to get the perfect selfie angle, or Cathy managing to fall into a puddle. “They are so much fun.”

Viktor pretended to pout. “So much fun you didn’t even miss me?”

“Of course I missed you, Viten’ka. Phichit and the others are great, but they’re not cuddly like you are and I’m not going to sleep well tonight.”

“That’s not what this blog post says…”

Yuuri giggled. “It’s finally happened? Phichit’s my soulmate?”

“It’s finally happened. Phichit’s your soulmate.”

 

Iona, Emily, and Cathy took a huge lead over the rest of the field in the ladies’ short program. In the men’s skate, Kamil kicked things off with a huge score, getting above 90. Yuuri skated at the end of the first group, where no one else had yet broken 80. Yakov wasn’t thrilled about his lack of sleep, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. Yuuri took the ice, and almost immediately messed up, stumbling out of his quad toe loop. He recovered well with the sit spin and step sequence, so that by the time he reached his triple axel, he was comfortable again. He landed the combo he’d struggled with in America, so while he expected a lower score than there, he at least hadn’t embarrassed himself too badly.

Yakov agreed, talking about the toe loop but not being too harsh. 92 was good enough for a lead, but not good enough to be comfortable. That was okay. Kamil was good. Clarien and Jude both got into the 80s. Seung Gil and Phichit skated back to back. Seung Gil looked good, technically, but there was very little emotion in it, and Yuuri thought he was overscored a bit. Phichit did much better at performing, but he fell on the triple axel and struggled a bit on a triple Lutz, meaning he finished in eighth for the day.

It wasn’t exactly perfect, but Phichit didn’t let his low standing get him down. “I’m just happy to be here! I could’ve done better, but better here than at my last competition, right?”

“True! You did fine, Phichit, don’t worry about it. Have a better day tomorrow, right?”

“Exactly!” Phichit hugged Yuuri. “Your adoring press waits. Have fun… soulmate!”

Yuuri stuck his tongue out at Phichit and headed out to find the press. As expected, they wanted to talk about the rumor. “Phichit is not my soulmate. He’s my best friend, and I do not want to know what my life would be like without him, but he is not my soulmate.”

“What does Viktor think of that?”

“Well, he’s not here, but I would imagine he doesn’t want to know what our lives would be like without Phichit either. Phichit, Chris, our rinkmates, Yuuko… there are a lot of people who enrich our lives so much. I can say that my husband finds the rumors about Phichit being my soulmate amusing.”

 

Iona held on to win, with Emily silver and Cathy bronze. Yuuri made sure to watch Phichit’s free skate – he’d said he was skating to The Hampsterdance Song, but he wasn’t. It was music by a Thai composer, which certainly made him stand out from everyone else, and he put on a great show. If he made the free skate at the Olympics, he was likely to be one of the most memorable performers on the ice that day.

Seung Gil did not start the second group off well, falling on his quad toe loop. It dropped him below Masaki and Lukas, although he was still ahead of Phichit. Jude and Kamil both put up respectable scores in the 170s, with Kamil leading when Yuuri took the ice.

Things started off much better for Yuuri, as he had no trouble with his opening combinations. Falling on his quad salchow, he could accept much more easily than a bunch of minor mistakes, even if the cost in GOE and deductions ended up being the same. When his next jump, a triple Lutz, went smoothly, Yuuri let himself relax. Landing his final jumps made him feel much better, which was reflected in his choreographic sequence. It was going to be enough for gold, Yuuri knew even before Yakov started talking. His score was 185, which he was perfectly happy to accept. Gold medal, and another trip to the Grand Prix Finals.

“Yuuri, you like having your friends with you on the podium. Were you disappointed not to get to stand beside Phichit?”

“I was, although Phichit was not really expecting a medal, not this year, not against this competition. Kamil and Jude are both friends, and I was perfectly happy to share a podium with the two of them again.”

“How long does Phichit get to improve before he’s kicked out of the group?”

The question made absolutely no sense to Yuuri. He can’t have heard it right. “What even… what?”

“The Saccharine… however many you’re up to now… comprises the best skaters in men’s singles. Phichit’s been that in juniors, but now that he’s in seniors, how long does he have before he’s kicked out?”

It still didn’t make any sense. “We’re not an exclusive club that you can get kicked out of. What you guys call the Saccharine Six happens because many of the top skaters are close friends, so the six who make it to the Grand Prix Finals are likely to want to hang out together instead of all doing our own things. If Phichit never makes it to the Finals, that doesn’t make him any less our friend. That said, I’m confident that Phichit will get himself to the Finals. Not this year, but one day.”

.

When Yuuri got off the ice after his exhibition skate, he checked his phone to find several missed calls and voicemails from Hasetsu. He called his mom back first. "Mari had her baby?"

"Mari had her baby! My first grandson!"

"Mom..."

"Oh, I know, Jiahao will be moving to China with his father, but Bin promised to bring him to visit often. Everything's good, Mari got through the birth just fine and the baby's healthy. Do you think Yakov will let you and Vicchan come visit after the NHK?"

"Yakov will, but we can't afford to miss the extra class, Mom. Especially not me. We'll be down there for New Year's just like always, I promise."

"Oh, okay. We'll see you then!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NHK and everyone's excited about the new baby.
> 
> Timeline: November 2013

As usual, there was barely any turnaround time for Yuuri. Home for a day and then off again, and the day he was home was spent at campus doing as much as he could to get caught up or ahead. The flight was long, which let him get a lot of reading done, cuddled up to Viktor in their seats. Georgi and Rykov spent the whole time studying or napping, too, and Sasha spent it watching gymnastics film.

Yuuko came running over to hug Yuuri as soon as he arrived at the hotel. “Hi! I brought pictures!”

“Great!” Yuuri and Viktor dropped their bags to crowd around Yuuko and her phone. Bin looked so soft and proud holding his son, and Viktor couldn’t stop cooing. Mari looked great, too. “How’s Mari recovering?”

“Really well. She’s older than I was, but she didn’t have triplets, so recovery’s going well. It helps that your mom and dad refuse to let her forget to take care of herself, of course.” Yuuko slid to the next picture. “My girls keep asking when they get to meet the new baby. I don’t think they understand that this isn’t like Akemi’s son.”

“Because he’s not really their cousin or because he’s leaving?” Yuuri asked.

“Because he’s leaving. We’re still taking them over to meet him when we’re back from this. Anyway, Minako didn’t come because she’s still so excited about the baby.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting her to.” Yuuri picked up his bag. “We should probably go get checked in, Vitya.”

 

Once they were settled into their room, Viktor hugged Yuuri. “Are you starting to get baby fever at all?”

“Kind of… I don’t think it’s a good idea right now, we’ve still got over a year and a half of school left, but I can’t help looking at all the happy parents and thinking I want that to be us. What about you?”

“Same. A kid is one good way to avoid draft issues once I graduate, so it’s something to think about. Mari should be recovered, but if she’s not or she’s changed her mind or wants to have one she can keep first, we can wait or work around that.” Viktor squeezed Yuuri. “I just keep thinking about Misha the first time he had to leave Nika, and wondering if I could do that.”

“Well, I know I’m looking at coaching when I’m done with skating, and as bad as we are at separation, it’s something to think about. If I’m coaching, I probably end up traveling more after I retire instead of less.”

“That’s a good point. Well, we have time to think it over.”

 

The men’s skate was the second event of the day, and Viktor looked forward to seeing everyone’s programs. He and Chris ended up skating back to back at the end of the first group, so they walked out together. Sachio had the lead at that point, with an 82.

Viktor went first. For his short program, his costume was based on an early photoshoot he’d done, one that had really played with his androgynous teenage look. He wore a pastel pink shirt and medium grey trousers – in the photoshoot, it had been tights, and the shirt had been long enough to pass for a dress. He’d chosen that one by asking his fanclub to vote for his most iconic photos, and this had been the winner for the pre-Yuuri period.

The short program was the rise of the hero, the future living legend, and Viktor skated it well. He would love to pretend that the underrotation of the triple axel was because he didn’t have Yuuri in his life yet, but really, it was just a mistake. Everything else was good, and Viktor was not at all worried about his score as he left the ice. Yakov’s criticism was valid, and he listened attentively for once – there was no way he was getting over 100 today, which meant he needed to work and improve. 95 was still good, and Viktor was confident it would hold up over Chris and Georgi.

Chris’s skate was beautiful, skating to a tango, and he got over 90. Georgi, after a couple small mistakes, ended up at 84, which was good enough to have him in third at the end of the day. Rykov ended up almost tied with Sachio, and would be in the second group for the free skate.

The ladies’ short program was immediately after the men’s, so Viktor and Yuuri stuck around to watch instead of going out to find the media and talk. With Yuuko skating second, there was no way they’d be back in time. They were very glad, too, as they watched Yuuko get above 70. For a ladies’ program, that was huge, and Yuuko’s joy was tangible even from the stands. Sara was the only other skater Yuuri or Viktor knew well, and she ended up in second, behind Yuuko.

When the press caught up, their first question was unexpected. “Is there any truth to the rumor that the two of you have a baby now?”

“No, but I can see where the rumor came from,” Viktor said. “Yuuri’s sister Mari has promised us that when we’re ready for a child, she’ll carry one for us, and she did just give birth a few days ago, but this is not our child.”

“If Viktor and I had a new baby, he’d be here, but I would not,” Yuuri added. “Our separation anxiety is bad, but not bad enough for me to leave a baby that’s less than a week old when I’m not even skating. I would not have skated in the Cup of China if our baby was expected during that time.”

“The other rumor is that it’s Cao Bin’s child… is that one true?”

“Yes, it is, the two of them are friends and Bin wanted a child. Since Yuuri and I don’t plan to have a child before we finish university, Mari was happy to help.”

 

The next day started with the short dance, then pairs. The first group of the men’s free skate was highlighted by Kaleb, but he was starting slow as usual. Rykov and Sachio both beat him, Rykov outskating Sachio for the lead. Georgi made up for his mistakes the day before, getting over 170, and Chris did just enough to beat him out. Viktor took the ice ready to go. This costume, also selected by his fans, was based on a photoshoot he, Misha, Georgi, and Yuuri had done together, advertising for Gucci. It was dark red, with the jacket made of a very shiny fabric. It hadn’t been the winner, but as Viktor hadn’t exactly told the fan club that they were picking his costumes, he could understand why the underwear and swimsuit shoots had been popular choices. 

He started very well, landing his combinations cleanly and getting his quads fully rotated. This skate represented the part of his life where he and Yuuri were under constant attack from the media, Yuuri’s insecurities, Viktor’s holding himself back, and some Russian and Japanese idiots. Despite all that, the overall skate was hopeful, with moments of great happiness. He was tired by the end of it and it showed, as he stumbled out of a triple Lutz and had trouble connecting elements of his choreographic sequence, but still, it was a good skate, rewarded by an equally good score. 185 was huge, and gave him the gold. Chris’s second silver meant he was headed to the Grand Prix Finals again. With two bronzes, Georgi wasn’t a lock, but he had a chance.

Once again, Viktor and Yuuri stayed to watch the ladies. Yuuko and Sara both held on, guaranteeing them both trips to the Finals.

“Viktor! We’ve seen reports that your costumes were chosen by your fan club this year?”

“They were! I think they made some excellent choices, too! Thank you, fans, and I hope you understand why some of the ones with higher votes weren’t chosen.” Viktor winked.

“There was one higher-ranked photoshoot that we would have thought you’d love to do – the wedding outfit shoot with Yuuri. Why didn’t you use that one?”

“Come now, you wouldn’t expect me to give away my surprises, would you?” The mystery was answered at the exhibition skate – Viktor skated to a mix of traditional Russian and Japanese wedding music, wearing a costume inspired by the wedding photoshoot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Inspiration for Viktor's free skate costume](https://www.google.com/search?q=gucci+men%27s+clothing&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3t4-S-ajaAhWLyIMKHbzhAeQQ_AUICygC&biw=1536&bih=734#imgrc=zFtZX5rYbUBjnM:)
> 
> Also, this is up today instead of yesterday because I got busy working on [this](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1u2E6SLBFZ7AqU7ASGQnxOuD9MunnubROkH-WLVs_BnU/edit?usp=sharing). A few people have mentioned losing track of various characters, which is understandable, so this is a character guide with names, countries of origin, birthdays and age at the 2016 GPF (so I don't have to constantly update it - that's how I keep track of time in my notes, but for this, I wanted to keep it simpler in case I forgot), if they're skaters what they compete in and what level, and character notes for anyone who isn't a skater and for skaters who have had bigger roles than filler at competitions. This will be added to the series description. It is currently in development - I know I don't have every character ever mentioned in every side story (one I know for sure is missing is Rykov's older sister), but I'm working on it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skate Celje and Trophee Eric Bompard

It was good to be back in Saint Petersburg long enough to actually go to class. Even if it was only for a week before they left again, it was very helpful. Yuuri was starting to very much freak out about the next semester, especially when he realized that his finals were scheduled to take place during Nationals, with the last two weeks of the semester being reserved for finishing his semester project. Viktor had the same problem. Their professors all agreed to let them take their finals either a week early, before leaving for Nationals, or when they got back from the break for New Year’s.

Yuri and Lilia were gone for Skate Celje, and Yakov, Misha, and Mila went to France – Georgi still had a chance at the Finals, but he wasn’t going to count on it, not with Misha, Viktor, Michele, and Kamil all still having at least silver already and a competition left. Even if he did end up going, he had plenty of time to practice even if he went to France with Anya. That left Viktor and Yuuri alone at the rink. Viktor still had to skate the next week, so he kept hard at work, while Yuuri put in less work than usual so he could prepare for the early school finals.

 

The first two days in Celje were practice days for Yuri, which he spent alternating between hiding in his room to study or hanging out with Richard and Klaus. He invited them both over to his room to watch the first day of the Trophee de France with him. Nobody really cared about pairs, so they studied or talked through the whole thing. Richard quieted them when Michele started his skate. He did quite well, but was almost immediately passed by first Jude and then Bin. In the second group, Paul had some trouble, which put him behind Michele, and then Misha came out and made a statement by getting close to 90. Phichit’s friends Seung Gil and Lukas both did well, although not getting anywhere the lead, and Richard was interested in watching Valentin, a French skater who finished in ninth. Richard shrugged. “We don’t really have very good men’s skaters right now. I’m going to change that, when I’m older, but the guys we’ve got suck. Ice dance carries us in team competitions.”

Yuri didn’t pay much attention to ice dance, only tuning in for Anya and Christov’s skate, but Richard and Klaus paid much closer attention. The Russian team finished in first for the day, only two points ahead of the Americans. In the ladies’ skate, Mila was the third skater, and she did very well. “Holy crap, Yakov doesn’t take just a whole lot of ladies, but when he does, they kick ass,” Klaus said. “That was amazing!”

“Yeah, Mila’s great. In a couple years, she’s gonna be medaling all over the place,” Yuri said. Sako took the lead from Mila, as was expected, but then Raisa struggled with her layback spin, enough that she dropped below Mila. “I’m so happy to be several countries away. Mila’s squealing is going to be so annoying tonight.”

“Hush, she deserves it, if she can compete with Raisa she can go to the Olympics, I’d be squealing too,” Richard said. Yuri couldn’t argue too much with that. Cathy had a bit of trouble as well, touching a hand down on a triple lutz, and then the three boys watched with their mouths hanging open as Kang Hee fell on her triple axel. That put her in second!

 

The next day, Yuri and the others got to skate their short program. There was only one other novice boy’s skater there, Zenonas, who had chosen to hang out with some of the girls the day before. Yuri looked carefully around the stands for signs of Lev or Angels, and while he spotted some of the latter, there was no sign of Lev.

Yuri was the first skater of the day. Much as he wanted to do triples, he knew Lilia would not hesitate to murder him, so he stuck to the doubles and just focused on doing the absolute best he could. His 38 was a nice reward for it, too. Only Klaus got over 30 after him, giving him a nice comfortable cushion going into day 2.

Once they were done, they all went out to lunch together, supervised by Lilia and Zenonas’s coach, and then gathered in Richard’s room to hang out and watch the Trophee de France. Valentin didn’t finish last, which made Richard happy. Seung Gil beat Lukas, and neither of them beat Paul. Jude came out angry, skating hard and landing his two quads very well. He got above 180, which Michele couldn’t match. Bin came out strong as well, but then he fell on a quad salchow. He ended up behind both Jude and Michele, meaning he was likely out of the medals and wouldn’t be in the Finals. “What’s with him this time?” Klaus asked. “It’s not as bad as that one year he sucked, but…”

“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine,” Yuri promised. “He’s probably distracted because his kid was born a couple weeks ago so he’s got life shit interfering with training again.”

Misha held on for gold, also passing 183. “At least he’s back after last year,” Zenonas said. “I thought he’d retire. Olympics?”

“Olympics,” Yuri confirmed. “He felt great though, and he thinks his injury is completely behind him, so good for him, right? It looks like he made a good choice anyway.”

Misha joined Chris and Yuuri as a confirmed finalist, with Jude and Michele watching the Rostelecom Cup closely for Viktor and Kamil. Misha’s second gold also had the announcers talking about the strong possibility of a Feltsman Sweep of the gold in the men’s Grand Prix – if Viktor won in Moscow, and then one of Yuuri, Viktor, and Misha won the Finals, all seven of the golds would have gone to Yakov’s skaters. “As much as Yuuri and Viktor always say they think others could beat them, have you seen anyone who could?”

“No, I don’t think so. They’re just head and shoulders above everyone else right now. Misha could, maybe, if they help him out by making mistakes, but it’s hardly a guarantee. Christophe? Kamil? Jude or Michele? I don’t think so.”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “They’re not unbeatable. They keep talking like that, Viktor’s gonna get the gold at the Finals.”

“Why’s that?” Richard asked.

Yuri decided not to reveal Yuuri’s anxiety to these guys. Not really any of their business. “Because he will.”

Anya and Christov couldn’t quite hold off the Americans, but second was still good enough to send them back to the Finals. Yuri didn’t pay much attention to the first group of the ladies’ skate, tuning back in as Cathy started the second group with a huge score, over 120. Raisa couldn’t beat her, and Mila, with her lower difficulty, dropped behind Raisa. Not by much. Not by nearly enough that she’d start worrying about not being able to beat Alena at Nationals. Kang Hee recovered from her mistakes, and she was able to hold off Sako to win gold and get herself a trip to the Finals.

 

Lev still didn’t show when Yuri went to the rink for his free skate, but the Angels were there in force. Yuri spent what felt like hours signing autographs while the novice girls skated, leaving only when they called the next to last group so that he could dress and warm up. Today, he’d be skating last. He didn’t pay attention to Zenonas or Richard, only Klaus, and Klaus was the only one to break 50 for the day. 

That reminded Yuri – in Milan, he’d been close to 100 overall, and after the disappointment in Dortmund he would love to break it. Doubles only, of course, no sense cheating. Fighting as an alien was fun, and without triples to think about he could really focus on doing everything as well as possible. When he skated over to the Kiss and Cry, he thought Lilia looked somewhat impressed. Now Yuri was really excited about his scores, and it didn’t let him down. 62, adding up to a total of 101. Mission fucking accomplished, this week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the real Skate Celje, there was a grand total of one (1) boy in the advanced novices category.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rostelecom Cup. Abuse of the word shenanigans.
> 
> Timeline: late November 2013

Viktor had a good feeling about Sochi as he packed his bag, and it just kept getting better as he and Yuuri spent the flight cuddling and studying together. When they landed, Chris, Masumi, and Jolanda were there to greet them. “Hello! Ready for shenanigans?” Chris said once hugs were out of the way.

“No.” Yuuri crossed his arms and glared.

Yakov pointedly walked away, and Viktor started laughing as soon as he was out of earshot. “Okay, now are we ready for shenanigans, Yuuri?”

“No!”

“Why not?” Yuuri was stressed over school, yes, but surely he wasn’t going to pass up shenanigans with Chris and the others.

Yuuri stared at Viktor in disbelief and then shook his head. “Wow. I can’t believe you, Vitya. You either, Chris.” He waited while Viktor and Chris stared at each other. “Masumi, will you tell your idiot boyfriend and his best friend that I am not getting into shenanigans without _my_ best friend?”

Masumi put an arm around Chris. “You deserve that, you know. Phichit won’t be here for another two hours, of course Yuuri’s not ready for shenanigans.”

“Oh, of course, please forgive me, Yuuri!” Viktor hugged Yuuri. “You are absolutely right. Phichit would never forgive us if we began the shenanigans without him.”

 

Phichit found the whole thing hilarious when Chris and Viktor told him about the conversation and begged his forgiveness. “Yuuri, thank you for being the best friend I deserve. Now can we go have some shenanigans?”

“Now we can go have shenanigans,” Yuuri promised. “Might wanna see if Skye and Paul and Emily want to come with us.”

“Oh, I should call Sasha! She and Rykov might want to come!” Viktor said.

Moscow was a perfect place for them, as most of them had been there before and knew where to go to have some fun. Phichit had a fake ID that let him get into clubs, and when Emily questioned whether it would work, Phichit pretended to take great offense at someone daring to question his trouble-facilitating skills. “This gets me into 21 and over events in Detroit, I’m sure no one will question it for passing myself off as eighteen.”

He was right, and the one time they did run into trouble, it was easily handled. He was recognized because the bouncer was a Hamster, and there was no way the bouncer was going to cause trouble for Viktor, Yuuri, and his hamster overlord. He took the bribe Viktor offered, but made it clear that it was only in case Phichit got caught and he had to deal with his boss. “Otherwise it goes into Katsuki-Nikiforov merchandise.”

 

Skating kicked off with the ladies’ short program. Iona skated second, and did well, close to 70, and Emily also beat 60. Alena had trouble keeping up with them, with a 56. Skye finished the first group by breaking 72. Only Saila in the second group beat 60. Viktor watched the first skaters in the pairs, Stas and Salomat. They were not going to make the Finals, but they’d earned a trip to the Olympics in the Nebelhorn, so it was good to see them do well. The first two skaters in the men’s group were Russians, neither of whom did well. Phichit skated third, and unlike the Cup of China, he skated very well. 76 was not going to have him challenging for a medal, most likely, but it was a good score for him and Celestino looked very pleased with his skater. Togai skated after him, and he struggled, dropping below Phichit. Su took the lead with the first score over 80 to finish group 1. In group 2, the struggles continued until Kamil came out, and even for him, 84 was somewhat low. Masaki did horribly, dropping into eighth place.

Viktor was skating last, and just very glad he was not Yuuri. His good feeling from the trip out hadn’t gone away, despite the struggles of the other skaters, and he took the ice full of confidence. His quad Lutz was smooth, and his quad salchow-triple toe loop combination soared. His story was a rising star – his star was certainly rising today. He couldn’t be sure, of course, but as he spun to a stop after his final camel spin, he thought he might be close to the world record. Possibly over.

Yakov had some very, very tiny nitpicks on his step sequence, and a slightly bigger one on the combo spin where he’d gotten a little sloppy transitioning from a sit spin to an upright spin, but if Yakov was working that hard to criticize him, Viktor felt even better. When his score popped up, he looked to Yakov first. 98.52. Was that higher than his old record? It was. Not by much, but it was higher. “You may want to tweak your program a little, Vitya, if you didn’t break 100 today I don’t know that you can with the program as it is.”

“Well, there’s still Yuuri,” Viktor said. “Don’t worry! One of us will do it!”

 

The next day’s skating began once again with the ladies. Alena managed to dig herself out of the hole, and when Saila dropped beneath her, that put her in the top five. For her, that was a great finish. Iona passed Skye for gold, and Emily took bronze, which put all three of them in the finals. For the first time in a while, there would only be two Japanese women there, as Sako ended up first alternate. Masaki showed great poise in recovering in the free skate, while Togai struggled again. Phichit did well, but not well enough, being passed by Canada’s top skater Clarien. Kamil stumbled a bit with a 172, while Su got close to 180, which put Su above Kamil and in the lead.

Viktor wasn’t as sure of himself this time as he’d been the day before, but his confidence showed up when he hit a huge quad flip to start his combo, and that confidence carried him through his battle with the press and Yuuri’s anxiety and all the haters who tried to tear him and his soulmate down. He had another huge quad with his salchow, and he spent the entire program on fire. When he landed an almost perfect triple flip at the end of his program, even he couldn’t help the scream of success before skating over to Yakov.

With more program to work with, Yakov was able to find some flaws to work on, but once again, it was nitpicking, and once again, Viktor had a new world record. Two, in this case, since two world record skates equaled the overall record as well. Yakov raised an eyebrow. “Well. You know what happens now.”

“Yuuri and I have to chase 200? We’ll do our best, Yakov!”

 

Viktor stuck around to watch the ice dance, where Masumi and Jolanda took their second gold of the season and earned a trip to finals. Then it was out to talk to the press.

“Three world records here, didn’t you want to save anything for the Finals?”

“Of course I did! After all, Yuuri’s going to be coming for me!”

“He didn’t get close to these scores earlier, are you really worried?”

Viktor’s arms tightened around Yuuri. “My husband has been working hard. If he had been the one with the late assignments, these records would likely be his! At the Finals, I’m sure you’ll see us both performing very well.”

“Misha made it back, but this year, Georgi ended up missing out. How do you feel about that?”

“I am very happy for Misha – this time last year, he wasn’t sure he’d even be around this year, and he’s showing that he made the right choice to come back and skate another season. Georgi missing, well, these things happen. He had the bad luck of having Christophe at both events along with either me or my husband. On the other hand, I’m very happy for Jude, who’s made it to his first Finals!”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tallinn Trophy and happy 21st birthday Yuuri hope your day gets better after Potya's present!

In the time between the Rostelecom Cup and Finals, Viktor and Yuuri worked hard both for school and at the rink – finals were coming up quickly for both. Misha and Georgi enjoyed the hell out of being able to tease them about only having one or the other to worry about. Mila focused hard on preparing for Nationals – she was going to the Finals to see her friends, but other than that, Nationals was the main thing on her mind. “I was so close to Raisa in Paris. If I can win the gold, there is no way I get left off the Olympic team. Silver should be good enough, as long as I skate well, but why take that chance instead of aiming for the gold?”

Yuri, meanwhile, was only thinking about the Tallinn Trophy – with one exception. “Sorry I’m missing your birthday, Yuuri.”

“It’s okay! I’m not really planning on celebrating much anyway. Come back with a gold medal and I’ll forgive you. Come back without a gold medal and I’ll probably forgive you eventually, but if you don’t win against Kazimir and Zenonas, it’s because you’re hurt. Please don’t get hurt on my birthday.”

“Heh. Thanks. 21, huh? You’re kind of old now.”

Yuuri took a nice long drink from his water bottle. “If I’m old, what do you call Vitya and Misha?”

“You’re only kind of old. They’re old.” Yuri stuck out his tongue at Yuuri. “You should still be there when I get up to seniors. Hope you enjoy your win streak, because I’m ending it.”

“I’ll believe that. Probably not right away, but you’re going to replace me and Viktor at the top.”

 

For once, Yuri’s group would be skating in the evening on Yuuri’s birthday, as the morning was taken up with club skaters and ice dance. He spent most of the day in his room playing games on his phone and getting some schoolwork done, and called Yuuri after Yuuri’s last class. “Happy birthday. Has Viktor told you the plan for tonight yet?”

“He’s told me there is one and that it’s a surprise, but he also said to tell you to call us when you’re done. Tomorrow’s Saturday, no class, so we can sleep late if we want to.”

“Heh. Okay.”

“Potya says hi and wants to know if you’re proud of him.”

“What am I supposed to be proud of him for? Aside from the usual being the best cat.”

“When I fed him this morning, he took one sniff of it and then took a swipe at my arm. I was late to practice because I was bleeding.”

“Ha! Sorry you’re hurt, but that’s a cat for you.”

Once off the phone, Yuri headed over to the rink. As he feared, there was quite the crowd of Angels, but he didn’t see Lev anywhere. That was quite all right by him, and Yuri spent the time signing merchandise relatively gracefully, with no sign of his father and surprisingly well-behaved Angels in the line. No weird or creepy requests, no meltdowns, there was some squeeing but that Yuri could live with.

He was skating third of the three skaters, and neither of the others got above 30. He couldn’t get Yuuri a gold medal today, but he could get a ten-point lead if he skated his best. That started out well with a clean double Lutz, and his spins were as good as always. His double flip had been better, but it’s not like this one was bad at all. No reason he couldn’t be at or around the same as his score from Lombardia, and he was very close. 38 was good enough for the ten point lead, although Yuri listened closely to Yakov’s critique. By the end of the season, he was going over forty.

Yuuri didn’t answer the first time Yuri called, but he called back a few minutes later. “Sorry, bathroom. How’d you do?”

“Good. I’m up ten points and everything was clean. You having fun of the kind I would want to hear about?”

Yuuri chuckled. “Yeah. Georgi’s hosting a party. Don’t tell Yakov, but we’re playing some drinking games.”

“Even Mila?”

“Depends on the game. Truth or Dare she can join us for, but Mila’s not supposed to be drinking, she is SUPPOSED to be our referee watching to make sure no one’s cheating.” Yuuri lowered his voice to a whisper. “I’m pretty sure she’s snuck a couple.” Back at normal volume, he continued, “Lilia’s here, too, and it’s kind of hilarious. I’ll send you video.”

Yuri couldn’t help the laughter at the sight of Lilia doing the macarena. “Okay, next year, there’s gonna have to be a bigger competition for me to miss your birthday.”

“Next year, either Viktor or I will probably be competing in a Grand Prix qualifier like usual. You’re going to keep doing minor competitions?”

“Well, yeah. Still probably won’t be much in the way of competition, but I do them for the prize money. That’ll be even better, next year.”

“True. Good luck tomorrow!”

“Thanks.”

 

The free skate was back to early again, although still after noon since the girls would go first. Yuri didn’t even look at Kazimir or Zenonas’s scores. He just went out to do his thing. He started off huge on his double flip-double toe loop combo, which set a strong tone for the rest of the alien invasion. By the end of the program, Yuri felt very good about it. Yakov’s critique was harsh but picky, and Yuri was only a little disappointed in his not quite 62 that gave him an overall 100, and that just because he’d done 101 last time.

The Angels today were less well-behaved, although far from the worst Yuri had ever dealt with. Lev still didn’t show, so Yuri endured the weird requests for things to sign – stuffed cats were normal, but this one looked creepily like a taxidermied cat instead of the expected plushie – and bad selfie etiquette – who kissed someone without permission, even on the cheek? Yakov rushed that girl off immediately after, and the ones who were left got the hint, but still. Yuri was grateful for the nice hot shower after he got back to the hotel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay - combo of state test administering sapping my will to live and losing my meds NOT HELPING with the brain mushing. Testing is done until May and I got replacements for the meds so we're all good! <3


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beginning of the Grand Prix Finals, including a Saccharine Six and Friends field trip.
> 
> Timeline: early December 2013

With Finals being in Fukuoka, Yuuri was very eager to get everyone together. The group he took out to Hasetsu was huge – Viktor, naturally, Misha and his family, Kamil and his family, Chris and Masumi and Jolanda, Jude, Skye and Paul, Sara and Michele, Emily, Georgi and Anya, Leo, Phichit, JJ, Emil, Mila, Yuri, Celestino, and Yakov and Lilia. Hiroko and Toshiya had been warned in advance about the massive group of athletes about to descend on their onsen, and they were prepared with lots of food.

Yuuri and Viktor slipped off while everyone was busy eating to go find Mari, Bin, and their baby at Takeshi’s sister’s house, with Akemi and her son Tameyoshi. “Hey guys. Good to see you.” Mari handed Yuuri the baby. “Thanks for the warning before you brought everyone over. Jiahao’s already fighting a cold, don’t need him exposed to a bunch of strangers all at once.”

“Awwww, poor thing, colds are no fun even when you’re old enough to understand why everything hurts and you’re miserable and your nose and throat hate you.” Yuuri cuddled Jiahao close. “You be good, okay? Fight hard and don’t give Mari too much trouble.”

“He hasn’t so far. At least, from what I remember from you and Tameyoshi and the triplets, he’s seemed pretty normal. Kinda over this whole lack of sleep thing, you know? But that’s not his fault, and it’s not like it’s a surprise. Bin’s been a huge help, although I thought I was gonna have to kick his ass at one point.”

“Uhoh. Why?” Yuuri asked.

“Chinese Nationals are at the end of the month, and he wasn’t sure how they worked with Russian and Japanese and was talking about skipping so he could be here while everyone went to watch you and Yuuko. Thankfully they’re not close at all, people should be home before he’d be leaving, but even if they were at the same time, Mom and Dad wouldn’t be going and the three of us can handle a baby without him.”

“I’m kind of surprised he’s here instead of in China, honestly. Doesn’t he have training?” Viktor said.

“Nishigori’s letting him use the Ice Castle, and we were advised that it’ll be easier on Jiahao when he moves to China if he’s already used to Bin being around. As soon as Bin heard that he was working out a deal with Mom and Dad to basically live at Yu-Topia for six months and his coach and Nishigori to train out here. He’s gonna be a great dad.”

There wasn’t time to get to the ninja museum, but Viktor insisted on going up to look at the castle anyway, and Yuuri showed off the Ice Castle and Minako’s studio. They couldn’t stay too late, not with competition beginning the next day, but Yuuri was grateful for the appreciation everyone showed for his home town. The last stop of the day before heading back to the train station was posing for a group picture with the squid demon statue.

 

The first day of the competition began with junior ladies’ and junior men’s. Mila had friends in the junior ladies’ she was cheering for, but Yuuri and Viktor didn’t know them, except for Kei. In the men’s, JJ held the lead, with Leo second, Emil third, and French skater Silvain Caillat fourth. The difference between JJ and Silvain’s score was less than three points, which was going to make the free skate very interesting. Gabriel, in fifth, was only two points behind. This was still almost anyone’s to win. Junior pairs skated between junior and senior men, which worked out well as Yuuri and Viktor didn’t know any of them so they could go get ready.

Jude skated first, and he did well. Chris struggled with his quad Lutz, which put him below Jude. Kamil skated very well, taking the lead, and Misha wasn’t able to catch him, although he still broke 80. Viktor and Yuuri walked out holding hands, and Viktor gave Yuuri’s hand a kiss before sending him onto the ice.

Yuuri took the ice full of energy, ready to do this thing. A lover’s betrayal was something Yuuri would never seriously know, but he could skate the program well. He started off well, landing his quad toe loop cleanly, and his step sequence was difficult and full of flow. The flying layback spin went very well, and when he landed his quad salchow-triple loop combo, Yuuri barely stayed on the ice afterward. He headed for the edge of the rink as soon as he could, barely stopping to grab a dragon on the way out.

Yakov brought him back down to Earth, but still, Yuuri was hoping. He hoped the scream would be taken as joy, but the truth was, he was so frustrated with himself. 99.84 was an incredible score, a new world record… and it was .16 less than the 100 mark he and Viktor had been challenged to break.

He stayed in the Kiss and Cry with Yakov to watch Viktor. Right away, Viktor didn’t look as good as he had in Moscow – he looked good, clean, just not as good as he had. He’d argued with Yakov about tweaking his program for added difficulty, and won the fight to leave it as it was for now. Viktor had talked about being able to improve his performance scores. In Yuuri’s opinion, that should happen this time. It did, and Viktor’s overall score was five hundredths above his old world record. Not enough to break 100, not enough to beat Yuuri, but enough to prove to Yakov that his program was strong enough as it was.

They stayed to watch the ladies’ skate. Yuuko did beautifully, ending up in second after Iona messed up her double axel and finished fifth. Skye was third, Emily fourth, and Sara last. Yuuri and Viktor didn’t stick around to hear Kang Hee’s score; they didn’t need to to know that she would be in first. The press met them quickly. “Yuuri! You didn’t look as happy as we’d have expected for breaking Viktor’s record. A world record isn’t good enough for you?”

“Yakov set my husband and me a challenge at the World Team Trophy last year – he wants to see one or both of us break 100 this year. When I came off the ice, I thought I might have it, but I didn’t. It’s something to shoot for at the Olympics.”

“Yesterday, you and a lot of your friends took a trip to Hasetsu. Do you think that if you hadn’t gone you might have done better?”

Yuuri just stared blankly at the reporter, his brain refusing to make sense of the question. Viktor jumped in for him. “If you’re asking that, you must not have been paying attention the past few years. The Saccharine Six always go out and explore the city we’re in, or go shopping, or something. This year, Yuuri and I had planned to skip so Yuuri could meet Bin’s son. Then Misha asked if he could come with us, because he was curious about Hasetsu, then Chris asked, Lilia and Yakov were going to go anyway because Lilia and Minako are good friends, and it just kind of became this year’s thing.”

By then, Yuuri was recovered enough to speak for himself. “If anything, I skated better because of the trip home to see my friends and family there. Yuuko also did very well today.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're curious, I've added The Dragon Hoard to the character list. This is all the medals won on-screen.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Free Skate, and Yuuri is reminded that there are good reporters out there.

While waiting for the skating to start, Yuuri read some of the press about the Hasetsu trip. Lots of speculation about why so many of them went out there – Yuuri’s favorite, he had to share. “Did you see this one, Vitya? The Hasetsu trip was showing everyone around so that when we do an exhibition show there this summer people are already familiar with Hasetsu!”

Viktor’s face lit up with his heart-shaped smile. “I hadn’t seen that, and we didn’t do it, but that sounds like a great idea! Get some of our friends together and do something fun at the Ice Castle. Maybe not this summer, people will be more tired than usual after the Olympics and I don’t want to be trying to put it together around school, but in the future. Maybe two years from now? Next year we’ve still got school, and we’ll have all the graduation stuff to think about.”

“It’s something to think about, anyway,” Yuuri said. “And then there’s this one that went out yesterday morning to look around for himself and wrote about Hasetsu. He used the skater trip as a hook to get readers in, but then he talked about Hasetsu’s charm.” Yuuri searched the author’s name along with his own. “He’s fairly new, but when he writes about us, it’s always positive or at least truthful. I like this guy.”

“What’s his name?”

“Morooka Hisashi. I’ll see if I can find him at the rink today, introduce myself. Never hurts to have a strong relationship with a reporter you can trust, right?”

 

Yuuri looked for Morooka through the Junior Ladies, but made sure to be in a seat with Viktor to watch the men. Gabriel recovered, to Phichit’s joy, but didn’t quite get into the medals. Emil and Leo switched places, giving Emil silver and Leo bronze, while JJ held on to the lead to win gold.

Pairs skated next, and with no friends in the competition, Yuuri went back out looking for Morooka. He spotted him talking to Kei, who had taken gold in the junior ladies’. Yuuri wasn’t going to interrupt an interview, but now he knew what Morooka looked like and would recognize him later on. He couldn’t wait out the interview, not with ice dance about to have their short dance and the men up next for their free skate.

Olesya and Anatolij skated first, and they did well. Not likely to medal, but it was a good skate. Anya and Christov took the lead, and Jolanda and Masumi didn’t quite catch them. The Russians were third, ahead of the Swiss team in fourth, behind the Americans in second and the French hotshots in first. Chris started the men off, recovering well from the day before. Jude did well, but not well enough to pass Chris. Misha did better, putting himself on top, and guaranteeing him a medal after Kamil made enough mistakes to drop to last place.

Viktor’s skate started out beautifully, though not as beautifully as it had in Moscow. His skating was good, and Yuuri enjoyed watching him as he landed his jumps cleanly and danced against the demons that threatened to take his happiness away from him. It was going to be another high score, putting pressure on Yuuri to go out and respond. He hadn’t gotten anywhere close even to 190, but then again, that was with a whole bunch of small mistakes adding up in America, and a fall in China. If he could skate clean, he could easily get over 190. Skate well, and he might be able to get 195.

He’d need it, too. Viktor put up a 194, so Yuuri was going to have to do well out there. It didn’t start out promising, as he wasn’t exactly smooth on the transition in his first combo leading to him just barely landing the triple toe loop on one foot, but the triple axel-double toe loop-double toe loop combo after it went well, and settled him down. His quad salchow went well, but then he touched a hand down out of a triple Lutz. From there out, he was calm, and his skating was clean, but with those mistakes, would it be enough?

194\. It was enough. His one point lead from the day before put him one point up overall. Viktor pulled him into a kiss as soon as the scores were announced, forcing Yakov to pull them apart. “You two idiots have a victory ceremony to get to.”

“Sorry, Yakov!” Viktor winked at him. “Have to make it clear to the press that no I am not upset about Yuuri beating me.”

Yuuri, Viktor, and Misha had a great deal of fun out on the podium, posing for pictures, kissing each other’s medals, and generally enjoying themselves a great deal. “Let them say I’m old and washed up after that,” Misha said with a huge grin.

 

Outside, meeting reporters, Yuuri and Viktor took one look at each other and burst into laughter at the first question. “There was a lot of talk last year that Misha would be retiring, that he came back for one last Olympics. Do you know what changed for him between last year and this year?”

Once he’d gotten the laughter under control, Viktor fielded the question. “He had better luck this year. He was considering retirement, but he came back because he felt good and thought he had one more season in him. Based on his scores and his medal count for the season, I would say he was likely correct. One last Olympics is easily within his power.”

“You didn’t seem too upset about getting the silver, Viktor. Your coach wasn’t happy with you, though. What was that all about?”

“Yakov was fine with me taking silver. I deserved it. Yuuri skated better than me yesterday. He wasn’t happy with me and Yuuri celebrating before we’d gone out to get our medals, that’s all!” Viktor winked at the reporters.

“With the Olympics being in Russia this year, do you think he’s cheering for you to win it, Viktor?”

“Yes in the sense that he’s hoping I win gold, no in the sense that he’s hoping Yuuri does not. Russia cares a great deal which of Yakov’s skaters win and medal, but Yakov does not. If Yuuri wins, Yakov will probably be less happy than if I do, but that’s because the Russian Skating Federation would not be happy. He’s not going to take that out on Yuuri or do anything less than his best because of that.”

“Yuuri, do you agree with that?”

“Absolutely. Yakov is a great coach, and part of that is the way he treats his skaters like family. I look out of place in family pictures, but I am just as much a part of the family as anyone else.”

 

After the interviews, Yuuri caught Morooka’s attention. “Thank you very much for what you wrote about Hasetsu. I’ve read your articles, and I’m very grateful you’re here. It’s nice to remember that there are good reporters out there.”

“Thank you. I don’t know what other journalism schools teach, but mine taught me that part of journalism is having ethics. You and your husband don’t get that respect as much as you should.”

“No, we don’t, and the reporters like you tend to get lost in the overwhelming crowd of idiots. Do you know Mihara Renjiro?”

“Not personally. I know of him, of course.”

Yuuri pulled out his phone and found the number for Mihara’s office. “If you ever have a story you want to write about me, contact Mihara and he’ll help you get whatever you need.” Morooka copied the number with a stunned expression. “Once again, thank you.”

“Could I get your autograph?”

“Of course.” Yuuri took his pen and signed the notepad. “Do you want Viktor’s, too?”

“Sure.” Yuuri got Viktor’s attention from where he was talking to Misha, and Viktor signed as well.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End of the Grand Prix Finals
> 
> Timeline: mid-December 2013

The next day was a free day for the men, so Viktor and Yuuri spent the morning studying for their finals. They met up with the rest of the men’s finalists for lunch, and went out to look around Fukuoka for a couple hours before they needed to get to the rink for the ladies’ free skate.

Japan was not having a good year, as Iona dropped below Sara and seemed likely to finish last. Skye had a brilliant free skate, good enough to let her hold off Yuuko and guarantee herself silver. Kang Hee, naturally, held on to keep her gold. Yuuko took bronze, but as Japan’s only medal in ladies’, that was something of a disappointment.

After the victory ceremony, Yuuko came straight to sit beside Yuuri and Viktor. “The JSF is not going to be happy. Sako says she and her coach are already getting questions about why she missed the Finals this year, and now Iona… I think I’ll be okay, but there’s no guarantee. Bronze is not what Japan expects of their top skater. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on us all at Nationals – if any of the other ladies get close, they may get a shot.”

“Just go out and skate like you know you can, Yuuko. That’s all you can do. You and Iona have been Japan’s top skaters for so long, ever since Tamae retired, I don’t think the JSF will overlook you because of this.”

“I hope not. At least they’ve got you and Kei to be happy with. Kei’s the one I’m most worried about, really, she could have moved up this year but didn’t want to compete against me and Iona and Sako just yet. After the Grand Prix…”

“That’s for the JSF to decide and her to earn. She’s good, but not as good as you, and you and Iona have been through it before.”

Ice dance went as expected, with the exception of the Americans. Malachi nearly dropped Elyse on a lift, and while he managed to save it, it cost them enough points for them to drop out of the medals. The French team won, Anya and Christov took silver, and Masumi and Jolanda got bronze.

The only competition on the last day of the Finals was junior ice dance, with the exhibition right after. The fans had noticed that Yuuri and Viktor had coordinated their exhibition skates to both be wedding themed, and they were very eager to see what Yuuri and Viktor would do with their back-to-back exhibitions. Misha started off the goofing around with a different exhibition skate than he had done in qualifiers, skating to a Russian wedding night song. Viktor skated to Lohengrin, much to the fans’ amusement, while Yuuri skated to Viktor’s music, joined by Viktor at the very end.

 

Once back home, Yuuri and Viktor had approximately a week to prepare for final exams, while still practicing hard for Nationals. Yuuri flopped in bed every night exhausted physically and mentally. “I don’t want to think about what happens the next two months. Last Olympics, I was well rested and I could basically take the two months off from school without worrying about it. This year I’m exhausted already, and I haven’t even officially made the team!”

Viktor cuddled up close. “I know. My first Olympics was about as stress-free as anyone could ask for. Next Olympics was even better, even though I was busier.”

Yuuri turned his head to kiss Viktor’s cheek. “Sap.”

“Always.” Viktor smiled softly at Yuuri. “This one’s going to be bad. Not just because of school and your obligations in Japan and trying to do Europeans and Four Continents in between, but with it being in Russia and me being one of Russia’s most recognizable winter Olympians, moments of peace are going to be extremely precious. I’m going to need you.”

“More than usual?”

“Yes. I’m going to have to spend so much time with the press mask on, being the person Russia wants to see their representative be, and you’ve always been the one who sees right through that and makes me be myself when I have the chance. Without you, I don’t know if I’d be able to switch it off after this. I don’t want to be that person all the time.”

“It’s nice to remember that we both keep each other sane, it’s not one-way you helping me deal with my anxiety. It’s been a while since you’ve had to fully be Press Viktor, because people can blame me for you breaking character, but you’re right. Russia wants to see Press Viktor in the interviews and publicity, this time more than ever.”

“Cling to me as much as you need to over the next few months, okay?”

“I’m long over the point where I thought you’d be annoyed by your clingy younger soulmate, Viten’ka,” Yuuri said through giggles.

“If you hadn’t come to Russia, if we weren’t told about our soulmates in dreams, do you think you’d have made it to me yet?”

“No. I know you believe that anybody could have taught me the skills I’ve learned with Yakov and the rest of you, and you’re probably right, but no one else could have given me the confidence you have, and I don’t think I’d have anything close to the support network I’ve built. I might be in this Olympics, I might not, but if I was it would be my first, and I’d probably have a breakdown over not being prepared for the publicity demands and knowing that I was skating against you. I’d still only know you as Press Viktor, and there’s no way I’d approach you unless I ended up on the medal stand with you or something like that, and you probably wouldn’t give me a second thought because I’d be no contest for you and you quite likely would be Press Viktor all the time.”

“Well then. Thank God for the dreams. This way is so much better for both of us!”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Japanese Nationals
> 
> Timeline: December 20-23, 2013

Yuuri and Viktor spent the three days before leaving for Yuuri’s nationals taking finals. They wouldn’t get their results until after Nationals, with everyone else’s, which added to Yuuri’s stress. Viktor did his best to help with that, lots of cuddles and reassurance that Yuuri was smart and he knew his stuff and he did fine, but still, Yuuri spent the entire flight to Saitama fretting. Once again, there was enough of a spread between when Yuuri skated and when Viktor skated that Yakov and Viktor could come to Japan, although they would have to leave early, and Yuuri would be able to get to Russia in time for the free skate at least.

“Yuuri.”

Yuuri picked his head up off Viktor’s shoulder. “Yes, Coach?”

“Take it easy here. If you need to lower jump difficulty, do it. You’ve had a hard month, and you’re looking at two more. It doesn’t matter if you beat Sachio by two points or twenty, if you win you’re on the team for whatever you want to do. Even if you take silver or bronze, I can’t imagine the JSF would leave you out of the Olympics or Worlds unless you get hurt or you ask them to.”

Yuuri stared at Yakov in confusion. “Why would I ask them to leave me out of the Olympics?”

“You wouldn’t. Worlds, you might consider, but if you want to skip a competition, I would recommend Four Continents. The JSF won’t put pressure on you to go to help earn three slots for next year like they will for Worlds, and it would take some stress out of the leadup to the Olympics.”

“I’ll think about it,” Yuuri promised. It sounded like a good idea, but there were things to consider, like Phichit and Yuuko. “I did all three last time…”

“Last time you weren’t doing university as well. Vitya, if you want to skip Europeans or Worlds, that might not be a bad idea either. Depending on how things go, I may make it a coach’s order for Misha, but you can probably handle it if you want to.”

 

Mari and Minako met them at the airport and took them to the hotel. Yuuko had the girls with her. “Inviting everyone out to Hasetsu was a bad idea. Tell Misha and Kamil my girls keep asking where Nika and Kristýna are.”

“Nika too! Just imagine if we could find a way to have Natasha out. They’ll forget, unless we start scheduling regular playdates. Eventually.”

Yuuko giggled. “Probably.”

Loop walked over and tugged on Viktor’s pants leg. He squatted to talk to her more easily. “What is it, Loop?”

“Do you fall a lot?”

“All the time, in practice!”

“Does it hurt?”

“Sometimes. It depends on what I was doing. There are ways you can learn to make it hurt less.”

“Mom makes us wear lots of pads. Do you wear pads?”

“Not usually, not anymore. I did when I first started, though!”

“Okay!” Loop hugged him and ran back to her sisters.

Viktor stood up with a huge smile. “Teaching them to skate?”

“Yep. Takeshi’s spending a lot of time teaching them to fall, but they’re all capable of doing some basic forward skating on their own.”

“That’s great! Do they like it?”

Yuuko shrugged. “Loop’s a little unhappy with all the falling, but she likes the skating part. Axel loves it, even the falling, and Lutz isn’t so sure about it but when we tell her she can sit in the bleachers and play a game she refuses to leave. The talk about them being Japan’s terror trio when they hit seventeen is still jokes, not real expectations, and we’ve told them that they don’t have to skate if it stops being fun or worth it.”

 

The ladies skated first. Sako did very well, probably her best skate of the year. Yuuko struggled a little bit with her jump combo, but it was still good enough for first. It didn’t hold up long, as Iona skated two skaters later and did very well. Yuuri was very interested to see how Kei would do, and he was only a little surprised when she ended up fourth after the short program.

The first few groups in the men’s skate didn’t have anyone Yuuri or Viktor knew well. Togai skated in the fourth group, and put up a very big score, 84. Masaki skated after him, and he also got an 84, just a tenth below Togai. Kenjirou, as the junior champion, had been invited to skate in the senior nationals. His program was obviously lower in its base value, but 67 was a very good score considering his age. Sachio was in the final group with Yuuri, and he took the lead with an 88.

As they waited for the skater before him’s score, Yakov reminded Yuuri, “You don’t need a huge lead, just a lead. Even if you lower jump difficulty, you should have no trouble beating 90, Yuuri. Don’t push yourself here.”

“Yes, Coach.” Yuuri took a drink of water and skated out to center ice when called. He didn’t start out very well, touching down on his quad toe loop. His spins were fine, but he definitely wasn’t feeling like his usual self. After his layback spin felt a little off, he decided to change his quad salchow to a triple for the combo. It went very well, and Yuuri felt good about that part, at least, as he skated over to the Kiss and Cry.

Yakov didn’t comment on the lower difficulty, talking instead about the toe loop and some other minor mistakes and criticisms. As Yakov had said, he still got a score over 90. Good enough for first, and he could decide about lowering jump difficulty for the free skate after seeing how Sachio did tomorrow. Yakov had said it was okay to take silver, and Yuuri was sure he was right that it wouldn’t matter as far the Olympics went, but he hated to lose.

 

Yakov was staying through the free skate, but Viktor and Lilia had to leave after the short program, Viktor to get to Sochi in time to practice and Lilia to get back to Saint Petersburg so Yuri could keep working with everyone else gone. Viktor hugged Yuuri close before leaving for the airport. “Good luck. I know you can win this!”

“Thanks, Vitya. Good luck yourself!”

In the ladies’ free skate, Yuuri paid close attention only to the final group. Kei skated well, causing Sako to look a bit nervous when she took the ice. Too nervous, as she ended up half a point behind Kei. That was going to be interesting – Kei was tearing up Juniors, but she had no international senior experience, while Sako did. It would be a tough choice for the ISU. Yuuko and Iona, at least, made their decisions easy, both turning in excellent performances. Iona ended up with the gold, Yuuko silver, and Kei bronze.

Kenjirou did very well. He might not finish in the top 10, but he was fun to watch, worth the distraction. Togai and Masaki made for another difficult decision for the JSF. Togai beat Masaki, but also by only one point. Sachio beat them both easily, his 187 putting just enough pressure on Yuuri that he wasn’t sure about lowering his difficulty as he prepared for his skate.

His first two combos went smoothly enough to help Yuuri calm down, and he skated well, right up until he fell on a triple flip. Until then, he’d been planning on changing his last jump from a quad flip that he’d been doing all year to a triple toe loop, but now he wasn’t sure he had the points. He didn’t quite get it right, but he got it right enough for first.

Yakov wasn’t happy with him, but he at least didn’t question it, just gave him a lot of criticism about the quad. Yuuri had been right, though – without the quad, he certainly wouldn’t have beaten Sachio in the free skate, and likely wouldn’t have won overall. “I’ll call you when I land. Hopefully, everything will be official then. Remember what I said about Four Continents – I’m not going to make it an order, but I want you to consider it carefully.”

 

Yuuri did consider carefully. He then talked to the JSF. Sachio, Masaki, and Togai would go to Four Continents, Yuuri, Sachio, and Togai to the Olympics, and Yuuri, Sachio, and Masaki to Worlds. For the ladies, Yuuko and Iona were named to all three events, Sako got the Olympics, and Kei got Four Continents and Worlds. Yuuko came running over to Yuuri. “They left you out of Four Continents?”

“At my request. Remember how exhausting the Olympics were last time? I’ve got school on top of that now, so I want a break. Yakov was the one who told me I should think about it, and I love you and Phichit and everyone else who’s likely to be there, but if I want to skate my best in the Olympics, then this is what I need to do.”

Yuuko pouted. "I did it while pregnant with triplets and throwing up all the time..."

"If you'd known you were pregnant you wouldn't have!" Yuuri hugged her. "This was my choice, my coach supports it, Viktor knows I was thinking about it but won't know I did it until either I tell him or he sees the team listings."


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Russian Nationals and team selection.

The flight to Sochi sucked, and the practice day was even worse. Viktor wandered around Sochi by himself, but it wasn’t the same at all. He missed Yuuri. Even checking out the Olympic venues was boring without him.

Yuuri called while he was watching penguins at an aquarium. He quickly left to talk to Yuuri outside. “I miss you!”

“I miss you too! Everything’s done, I’m at the hotel preparing for my flight, officially a two-time Olympian, when Yakov gets there tell him I took his advice and I’m skipping Four Continents. Already been yelled at once for it, but it was the right call.”

“Okay. I’ll have to think about Europeans. It would mean I’d have the full time to finish my project instead of having to finish early and you wouldn’t have to choose between coming with me and having the extra time for yours.”

“Just looking at scheduling, Four Continents falls during our semester break, which means that instead of going to the contest I can come back to Japan for whatever publicity they want me to do here.”

“That makes sense. Of course, if you do that, you can’t do joint stuff with Yuuko.”

“Sure I can. Four Continents is in Osaka!" Viktor had forgotten that. That did make it easier, and it meant that most of the media and publicity people would be there anyway. "I can go there, stay in Japan a couple days past the competition so Yuuko and I can do anything they want us to do in Hasetsu, and still get back in time to start school.”

“True! You could also do any Hasetsu stuff while we’re there for a few days over New Year’s. It’s supposed to be a relaxing time, but…”

“We’ll figure it out. I’m sorry I have to miss your short program, but Yakov should be there soon.”

“I know. Love you.”

“I love you too. Good luck!”

 

Yakov wasn’t surprised to hear about Yuuri’s decision, and he encouraged Viktor to think about what he wanted to do about Europeans. Viktor promised to think about it, and he would. He’d just think about it when he knew where everyone else stood. Tonight, he was just going to think about how much he missed Yuuri and his short program.

The men skated first. Misha skated first, and his 89 sent a message to everyone that he deserved this Olympics spot he’d come back for. Georgi refused to let him just have it, as he put up a 93. Vadim and Yulian both came in with scores in the 70s, as expected. With Georgi’s 93, Viktor decided that he didn’t want to mess with his jump composition, starting out with the same quad Lutz he’d been doing. He wasn’t as sharp as he’d been at Finals, but he didn’t make any serious mistakes, either. His 96 was about right, and he wasn’t worried about any of the remaining skaters beating him. Rykov was the only one who was challenging for an Olympic berth, and he got an 85. He could make it, but Misha was good enough that four points wasn’t going to be easy at all.

Viktor had to stick around for opening ceremonies, but after that, he took off for the airport instead of sticking around to watch pairs or ice dance. He got there just in time to catch Yuuri heading for the baggage claim. Yuuri ran straight into his arms. “Congratulations on first!”

Viktor caught him and hugged him tightly. “You’ve seen the results already?”

“I don’t need to to know you’re in the lead, Vitya. Any big surprises?”

“Georgi’s over 90. I think he’s aiming for an Olympic medal." Yuuri chuckled at that. The other surprise was not as good. "Sasha didn’t come.”

Yuuri pulled back to look at Viktor. “What? Why not?”

“I don’t know. Rykov said it wasn’t a big deal, she just didn’t want to come, but that doesn’t make much sense to me. Why wouldn’t she want to come cheer on Rykov and me?”

“Have you asked her?”

“No, I guess I should do that, shouldn’t I.” He pulled out his phone, mentally kicking himself for overlooking the obvious.

Sasha answered almost immediately. “Hi Vitya! I was wondering how long it would take you to call me. I have a good reason for not wanting to be there, and Valera doesn’t know anything about it.”

“Oh?”

“I’m setting up a saltwater fish tank for him, for either condolences on not making the Olympic team again or congratulations on making it this time. He’s not expecting to, he’s expecting to be alternate again, but you never know.”

That made a lot of sense and was a total Nikiforov move, except for one thing. “Didn’t you already get him a fish tank?”

“Yeah, that was a freshwater tank. He wants a saltwater tank, too. He likes messing with the chemistry and stuff, and Dima’s good at looking after our animals when we’re both gone and he’s looking forward to it. Anyway, that’s why I didn’t come, so I could give him a nice surprise. Don’t spoil it!”

 

The next day started with the ladies’ free skate. Raisa set a high bar, but Mila answered well, coming in only five points behind. She was bouncing as soon as it was announced. Yuuri leaned over to Viktor. “She does know she hasn’t won yet, right?”

Viktor shrugged. “She’s also Mila. She’s excitable. I can’t blame her for getting excited about that score, that’s amazing for her!’

Mila’s excitement didn’t hold up long, as Alena came in between her and Raisa. Third was not going to get her to the Olympics. Then Viktor had to leave to warm up for the men’s free skate. Yulian and Vadim did as expected, unlikely to chase the leaders but still clearly above anyone from the earlier groups. Rykov set himself apart from them, getting over 170. Misha came out swinging, determined to get his score up as high as possible so he could beat Georgi. 183 was a huge score, even if it wouldn’t be good enough to keep up with Viktor. Georgi refused to roll over and let Misha have the win, and his 181 was enough to beat Misha overall. Still not enough to pressure Viktor.

Once again, Viktor decided not to lower his jump difficulty, just treat it as a runthrough in practice. It wasn’t going to get him above his record, but Yakov didn't give him too much crap for it. The 191 was hardly a surprise. It was enough for the win, though.

Once he had his medal, Viktor and Misha found an official to talk to. She was surprised by Viktor’s decision, but not at all by Misha’s. “We’ll take that under advisement as we make our selections. Happy birthday, Viktor.”

“Thank you!” Viktor took off to find Yuuri. The two of them getting the chance to be together on his birthday was so rare that he was not going to miss any more of it than he had to. For one night, they forgot skating and school and just went out for a fancy dinner and then dancing at a club until closing time. They weren’t planning to watch the pairs free skate, and the ladies wouldn’t even start until evening, so they could sleep in as much as they wanted to.

There were a lot of good skaters, but Viktor really only cared about the top three. Mila skated very well. Well enough that Viktor would be surprised if she were left out of both Worlds and the Olympics. Alena started out strong, but after a fall on a double axel, the nerves started to creep back in, and she ended up dropping below Mila. Not by much, Viktor was expecting a split, but enough that Mila’s silver, better performance in the Grand Prix, and coach might be enough that she’d get the Olympic nod. Raisa came out and won, not surprisingly.

Yuuri draped himself over Viktor’s back to watch Viktor reloading the website where announcements would be posted. “Europeans… huh. Yakov only has one skater there? They’re sending Rykov, Yulian, and Vadim. Georgi’s probably not going to be happy about that. Olympics, me, Misha, and Georgi, of course. I feel kind of bad for Rykov. Worlds… me, Georgi, and Rykov. That’s interesting. I wonder why Misha’s not going to Worlds?”

“They’re planning on using Misha for the team trophy, and counted that as his second assignment?”

“Maybe. I hope Misha and Georgi aren’t too upset by this.”

“What about Mila?”

“Europeans and… Olympics! Yes! We’re all going!” Viktor dropped his phone and turned around to kiss Yuuri. “Poor Yakov with four cats to herd and one dog easily led astray.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hasetsu for New Year's!
> 
> Timeline: end of December 2013

From Sochi, Viktor and Yuuri went out to Hasetsu. The first thing they did – well, the first thing they did other than get in bed and sleep for fourteen hours – was check their grades. They’d both passed everything, and Yuuri even had an almost perfect grade in his class on translating business texts. That made both him and his parents very happy. After all, it was an important class if he was going to use his new skills to help with promoting Yu-Topia and Hasetsu!

Yuuri and Yuuko had decided to take one day of publicity, which Yuuri insisted not be the 29th. That was his day to be with Viktor and celebrate seven years since Viktor had come to Hasetsu for the first time. “It’s a third of my life. It’s a big deal to me,” he explained when Yuuko asked.

Viktor hugged him. “Has it really been that long? Wow. And yet, I find myself struggling to remember what it was like before you. Of course, now that I have you… why would I want to remember a time without you?”

“Because that’s the time where your parents are, and when Makkachin was a puppy, and you learned to skate and started your rise to fame, and if you forget that part then you won’t be able to properly express yourself in your short program the rest of this year and you’ll definitely not get over 100?”

“Yuuuuuuuuri! It was supposed to be a sweet and romantic thought, not literal!”

Yuuri giggled and hugged Viktor back. “I know. You’re just so cute when you get flustered.

 

On the 30th, Yuuri and Yuuko dealt with the publicity people while Viktor and Takeshi looked after the triplets. “I’m a little worried about Bin as a father. He asked if we had skates that would fit Jiahao,” Takeshi said as he helped Axel tie her laces.

Viktor grinned. The thought of a literal baby on skates was just so cute. “I think he knows that they should at least be able to stand up before you start putting skates on them. Has he brought Jiahao out to skate?”

“Yes. Even better, he got Mari back on skates to skate with them!”

“Wow. When was the last time Mari skated?” Yuuri had told him that Mari used to skate with him and Yuuko and Takeshi sometimes, and he didn’t know when she’d stopped or why. He did know that, like Takeshi, she’d never even tried to compete. 

Takeshi thought for a few seconds and then shrugged. “I don't remember. Pretty sure it was before Kokei, though. It’s been a long time.”

“Yeah. Good for Mari!”

“She’s been spending a lot of time at Minako’s, too, when she has the energy after getting her schoolwork and chores done. She saw how well it worked for Yuuko to get back to her old weight, and the two of them have loved having the bonding time.”

 

Going back to the school was much less weird for Yuuri this time. His classmates were long gone, he didn’t mind the classes below him talking about how much they admired Katsuki him because even if they hadn’t actually liked him before he got famous, they at least weren’t responsible for the bullying. The teachers were eager to hear how he was doing in university, and very proud of him for managing good grades with a full-time career and all the travel he did.

Showing off the changes in Hasetsu since the last Olympics really made it hit home to Yuuri and Yuuko both what they meant to this town. It had been slowly dying, but now, tourism was up, families were moving out there, and Minako and the Ice Castle were both much busier than they’d have believed before Yuuri and Yuuko hit it big. Yuuri lost his temper and nearly took the head off of a reporter who tried to give all the credit to him, instead of them. Yuuri was not about to sit back and let her get away with that. Yuuko wasn’t there to defend herself, having gone with another group of reporters for a piece about her family, but Yuuri was not going to let this be all about him. “Yuuko is a top skater in a very competitive field, now a two-time Olympian, and she does much more ambassador work for Hasetsu than I do, since she lives here. The international tourism is more me, yes, because of Viktor, but within Japan, Yuuko is far more important to Hasetsu.”

“Oh, I’m sure your friend is a wonderful person, but…”

Yuuri bit his lip and forced his hands not to clench. “Nishigori Yuuko, the Ice Castle Madonna, is a national hero, a two-time Olympian, a multiple-times Grand Prix Finalist including a gold medal, and a resident of Hasetsu. I can’t say I’m a resident of Hasetsu anymore, although after retirement, I would like to come back at least part time. The only thing I can say that she can’t is that my husband happens to be even more famous than me, and he’s perfectly happy to use that to help Hasetsu however he can. If you can’t respect that there are two world-class athletes bringing attention and tourism to their hometown in this interview, then you can get out.”

“That’s just it, though. Yuuko is a celebrity in Japan. Maybe in China and Korea and a few other nearby countries. You and your husband are stars world-wide.”

“World-wide means very little when it comes to restoring the town. Tourism is all good and well, but without people choosing to live and work here, raise their families here, the town dies. That’s what Yuuko brings in.”

The woman took the hint and made sure to include Yuuko in her questions, but Yuuri had very low expectations of her reporting. When he finally made it back to Yu-Topia, he could feel the anxiety starting to creep in. “Vitya, there may be a fresh round of rumors that Yuuko’s my soulmate.”

“Oh no. I’ll be sure to watch out for the idiocy. What happened?”

“Reporter who just wanted to talk about me and dismiss her.”

“Ugh. When was the last time someone tried that with the two of us?”

“Not for years. I think you’ve gotten through to them that our lives are so wrapped up together that there’s no point in trying to separate them.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri's holiday and Mentor Nestle Nesquick Torun Cup
> 
> Timeline: Dec 2013-Jan 2014

When Yuuri and Viktor took off for their Nationals, Yuri flew out to New York to visit his sisters. Katya was still a boring baby, but it was good to see Natasha. She was getting so big! Boris had even started taking her with him to work one day a week, and she was getting very popular as a toddler clothes model. Yuri wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that – on the one hand, Mama probably wasn’t going to ditch Natasha if she became a model instead of a skater, but on the other hand, Natasha was three and a half. There was no way she was honestly choosing this, even as much as he had chosen skating when Yakov gave him his mama’s old skates. She was doing it to make Boris and Mama happy. At least with Boris Yuri could be sure that no one was going to try to mess with Natasha or do anything too creepy, but still, pushing your own kid into something was not good.

Boris noticed his concerns. “If she decides she doesn’t like it, I’m not going to force her to stick with it, Yuri. We’re going to give her exposure to all kinds of things, and she gets to pick what sticks and what doesn’t. I’d love her to stay with modeling, but if she doesn’t want to, she doesn’t have to. I maybe pushed Lana more than I should have, but I did let her get out.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Do you want to take her skating? Irishka says that working with younger rinkmates is part of Yakov’s coaching strategies, but you don’t have younger rinkmates to work with. We’ll get her into a proper class in January, but she’s your sister, she loves you, I thought you might like to take her out for her first time.”

Yuri agreed readily and the next day, Irina took Yuri and the girls to a nearby rink. She stayed on the side with Katya, while Yuri took Natasha out on the ice. Natasha was wobbly and fell a lot. Yuri didn’t remember ever being that unsteady, but then again, he’d been six. He had fun playing on the ice with Natasha, teaching her how to balance on the blades and how to fall. It was a great hour.

He and Natasha went skating several more times over the two weeks Yuri was in New York, and Natasha loved every minute of it. When Yuri left to go back home, Natasha was more pouty than usual about it.

 

Back home, Yuri had to work hard to catch up from the time off, because he was competing in only a few days. He barely got to see Viktor and Yuuri before he had to leave. There weren’t going to be many people here, but Klaus and Richard would be. It would be a fun competition, at least. That is, it would be fun if Lev stayed away.

He didn’t see Lev on the practice day, but he did on the first day of competition. He immediately got Yakov’s attention to point him out. “Why this one?”

“I don’t know. As long as he ignores you, ignore him. He is a skating fan, after all.”

Yuri tried his hardest to ignore Lev, and Richard and Klaus helped him out. It wasn’t hard when he was hiding from Angels anyway. When it was time to go, he got ready to skate his aliens as hard as he could.

Klaus and Richard both did well, scoring in the low 30s, while no one else got anywhere close to them. Yuri had very little to worry about, but he still put forth his best effort, tuning up for the rest of the European Criterium and the International Challenger Cup. It wasn’t as good as he’d been in Tallinn, but he was also just out of two weeks off, so he didn’t mind the fact that his score dropped a point. Yakov critiqued the program as always, but he wasn’t any worse than usual.

Yakov joined Richard’s coach in taking all the boys out to dinner, since they’d skated so late. On the way back to the hotel, they ran into Lev. Yuri didn’t say anything, just let Yakov guide him into the hotel. Lev barely even slowed down. It was like Lev hadn’t recognized him, but that was unlikely. Yakov agreed. “I don’t know if he’s trying to reform, trying to punish you somehow –”

Yuri snorted. “If he thinks not forcing himself into my life is a punishment, he’s a fucking moron.”

“Yuri. Mind your mouth.”

“Fine. I’m not wrong, though.”

“No, you’re not.” Yakov let go of Yuri’s shoulder as they got to the elevators. “I don’t know what he’s doing, but as long as it doesn’t involve you, I’m happy to let him keep doing it.”

“Fair enough. Me too.”

 

The next day, Yuri was skating late again. This time, he bit the bullet and showed up early enough to sign things for the Angels who had come. There were a few odd requests, and one Yuri ended up refusing – a woman who wanted Yuri to sign her arm so that she could get it tattooed on her. Yuri found that creepy. Who wanted someone else’s name tattooed on them? Soulmates were one thing, but some random kid? No. Yakov backed him up on that.

When Yuri was able to escape to get ready to skate, he shook it off. Yakov patted his shoulder. “This isn’t the first time I’ve heard something like that, but usually they were at least sixteen. You’re not getting the really creepy ones yet.”

“That’s not reassuring, Yakov.”

“I know. It wasn’t meant to be. It was meant to be a warning. There are creepy fans out there.”

“I’ve noticed!”

“You might want to think of them as you’re invading the world. Imagine yourself as an alien come to destroy all the creepiness in the world.”

Yuri nodded. That sounded like fun. He didn’t pay much attention to the first few skaters, only tuning in at all for Richard, and only really paying attention to Klaus. They both did well, but Yuri could do better. Again. He went out and, as Yakov suggested, imagined himself marauding across the Earth destroying every creepy fan. His, Yuuri’s, Mila’s, Viktor’s, didn’t matter. If they were creepy, they had to go. The grand finale, the last kill, was reserved for the biggest creep of them all – Lev.

He was out of breath as he headed to the Kiss and Cry, but it was the best he’d ever felt after a program. “That was fun. Thanks for the idea.”

“You’re welcome.” Yakov ran through the program with him while they waited for the score. It was over 63, a new personal best without a triple, giving him over 100 for the whole thing.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Europeans.
> 
> Timeline: mid-January 2014

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a bit of homophobia.

Not going to Europeans felt even weirder than the time he’d gone without Misha to Viktor. When Yakov left with Mila, Viktor had a moment of regret that he hadn’t agreed to go. Then he got back to the term paper he was working on, and the regret completely disappeared. There was no way he’d get this done on time if he’d gone. He was somewhat distracted by media and sponsors looking for him for interviews and photoshoots and other publicity stunts already, and of course practice for the Olympics. Whether he or Yuuri did it first would come down to luck of the draw – they were both determined to get up over 100 in their short program. Everything had to be perfect.

He and Yuuri did make time to join their rinkmates to watch Europeans, although they brought their laptops and both typed frantically between skates or when skaters they didn’t know were on. Russia didn’t exactly have the best day, but they had a good day, with Raisa finishing sixth, Mila eighth, and Alena tenth. Sara was in second, with Emily third. Ice dance went better, with Anya and Christov getting third, behind Jolanda and Masumi and Solène and Jean-Augustin.

Men skated on day 2. Viktor paid a little more attention to this one, just to see what the Russians would do, and to cheer on his friends. Yuuri kept working away on his project, but Viktor set his aside to watch once they started getting into his friends. The Russians didn’t do nearly as well as they would have if it had been him, Misha, or Georgi, but Rykov was in third, and Yulian and Vadim were both top ten. “Hey, Georgi. Do you know why you aren’t there? Misha and I asked not to go, but you…”

“Nope. No clue. I guess since they couldn’t give you three events they didn’t want to give anyone three, and with Misha already skipping Worlds…”

Misha shrugged. “I didn’t tell them not to put me on the Worlds team, but I did mention that I was retiring after this year no matter what, so I guess they decided to let me go out on the Olympics I came back for. Plus side, it means Vadim got to go to something?”

“Yeah, I guess. Good for him. He did well, at least. Bit surprised Kaleb’s so low…” Fifth was great, but low for Kaleb by this point in the season.

Georgi shrugged. “Rykov and Michele are both really good, and Chris and Kamil are Grand Prix Finals regulars. I’d love to see Chris take this gold.”

Ice dance went mostly as expected, although Masumi and Jolanda pulled off a huge upset, taking gold from the French team that hadn’t lost in a year. Anya and Christov held on to keep their bronze, while Olesya and Anatolij finished fifth.

 

Viktor and Yuuri didn’t even bother going over during the pairs short program, showing up just in time for the ladies’s free skate. “How’d Lina and Tima do?” Viktor asked as he settled in.

“First, over the French team,” Misha said. “Close, though. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them get silver tomorrow.”

“Well, it’s a good sign for the ladies, right? Good luck to Mila!”

Things didn’t start out well for the Russians, as Alena ended up dropping quite a bit, beaten by two of the people who had been behind her. Mila, on the other hand, did very well, and held the lead going into the final group. She wasn’t likely to medal, Sara and Emily were too far ahead of her, but top seven was great no matter what. Raisa continued the momentum, taking the lead from Mila. Emily and Sara took gold and silver, respectively, while Raisa took a slightly surprising bronze, and Mila was sixth.

Viktor applauded. “Not bad! Poor Alena, I was kind of hoping she’d come out upset about losing the Olympics to Mila, but still, eleventh isn’t that bad. But Mila! I’m so proud of her!”

The men’s free skate was the only event on the fourth day of skating, and it was a delight to watch. Vadim stumbled a bit, but Yulian turned in a personal best performance, as did Phichit’s friend Lukas. Rykov put forth a great skate, enough to hold off Michele and guarantee himself and Russia a place on the stand, even if it wasn’t the gold Russia was accustomed to. Then Kamil popped a quad salchow and doubled his triple axel, giving Michele a medal as well. Viktor held his breath as Chris took the ice, but his performance was solid, very good, and it earned him Europeans gold. Viktor jumped to his feet and cheered. “I’m so happy for him!”

“And silver for Rykov,” Misha said. “Russia can’t be too unhappy about that.”

Viktor pulled out his phone and called Sasha. “Happy birthday! Do you like your husband’s birthday present to you?”

“Um… why do you know about that…?” Sasha stammered.

“Because I just watched him win it! I’m so happy for him.”

“OH! That one. Yes. I love it. Silver medals are very shiny and I like gold better but Chris definitely earned it this time and I know it’s just because you guys aren’t there but Valera certainly skated better than everyone but Chris.”

“Okay, now I have to know. What else did he get you for your birthday?”

“Well, he hasn’t yet, but once he’s done with the media we’re going back to the hotel and…”

“Oh. In that case, never mind, I probably don’t want to know.”

Sasha burst into relieved laughter. “You really don’t. At least I don’t have to worry about Valera talking about it to you behind my back!”

 

The last day of skating was pairs and the exhibition. Mila and Yakov had come home, since Mila wasn’t in the exhibition, and while Viktor and Yuuri skipped pairs to shoot a cologne commercial, they were there for the exhibition. Viktor hugged Mila. “That was amazing! I’m so proud of you!”

“Me too! Surprised you’re here. Projects finished?”

“Mine is. Submitted it this morning. Yuuri just wants to read through his one more time, and he can do that after the exhibition.”

“Publicity going all right?” Yakov asked.

“So far. There’s been some stuff about Yuuko and soulmates, but nothing we haven’t dealt with before,” Yuuri said. “The weirdest one is they keep being pushy about kids. Apparently the fact that we’re not through with university isn’t a good enough reason to not want kids right this second? ‘You won’t be pregnant, it won’t screw up your career like it would if either of you was a woman, so why not?’”

“There are always idiots,” Viktor added. “At least we’ve only gotten one of the idiots who thinks that because we’re both male we have no business raising kids at all no matter what our circumstances are.”

“And Viktor shut him down quickly, hilariously, and incredibly thoroughly,” Yuuri said. “One of the funniest things I’ve ever watched.”

“All I said was that given your mom and our sisters and female friends it’s not like they’d be without women in their lives, and that everyone keeps talking about how much love the two of us have for those around us so what would be so awful about a child being raised in a home like that?” Viktor started laughing. “The look on his face, though…”

Yakov cleared his throat. “Well, if that’s the worst you’re getting, that’s probably a good thing. Glad to hear it.”


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skate Helena and Four Continents.
> 
> Timeline: mid-January 2014

Right up until Yakov got out of the car at the airport with him, Yuri had assumed Lilia would be the one going with him to Skate Helena. That’s what they’d been saying since last summer, because of the conflict with Four Continents. Sure, he knew Yuuri had dropped out of Four Continents, but he’d somehow never realized that meant he got Yakov for his competition. Yuuri and Viktor were still going to Osaka for a few days, but they weren’t leaving right away, and they didn’t need their coach.

Yuri spotted Lev almost right away, talking to a couple of women who looked like they might be in seniors. Yakov spotted him too, and just rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about him. Just skate.”

“Why is he flirting with girls half his age? He could be their father!”

“For their sakes, let’s hope he’s not. I don’t think he was stepping out on Irishka, but with Lev… who knows. We know he’s a damned good liar when the people he’s lying to aren’t already hostile.”

 

On the practice day, Yuri rounded up the four boys competing and some of the girls and went to laser tag after practice and lunch. It was just as much fun as always, running around and shooting people. For Yuri, it was also good inspiration for his free skate. Practice with aiming and getting in the mindset of a soldier. It might be cool to be a soldier one day, if it weren’t for the fact that it would mess up his skating. When he texted that thought to Otabek that evening, the response surprised him.

**_There’s more than one way to be a soldier._ **  
**_Just because you haven’t served in the army doesn’t mean you haven’t seen battle._ **  
**_That was one of the reasons I was so fascinated with you at Yakov’s camp._ **  
**_My brother got conscripted when he was eighteen, served two years._ **

**Wow! Did he ever have to shoot anyone?**

**_Not that he’s told me about. According to him it was mostly boredom, training, drinking, and convincing Nazim to marry him._ **  
**_Not like we’re at war or anything._ **  
**_But when he got to come home on leave, I could see in his eyes that he was different from the teenage boy who left home._ **  
**_And I saw that in your eyes at camp, too._ **  
**_I’ve always thought of you as a soldier._ **

**Really? Me?**

**_Yes._ **

**Huh. Are you going to sign up?**

**_No. It’s not an official exemption or anything, but if I can get good enough to medal at the Grand Prix qualifiers or do well at Four Continents or Worlds, I’m a national hero._ **  
**_National heroes don’t get drafted as long as they’re heroes._ **

 

The first couple days at Skate Helena were boring, younger kids were competing, so Yuri sat down to watch Four Continents with Richard and Klaus. Ice dance was boring – he hadn’t been a big fan before Lev, and after meeting Lev he was kind of put off. Anya certainly didn’t help, although Masumi was pretty cool for an old guy. Pairs was better, at least there was proper jumping, and Salomat and Stas were skating. They did really well, too, ending up sixth after the short program, behind two American teams, two Canadian teams, and a team from China.

Men’s, Yuri cared about. Some of these guys were friends, like Phichit, and a lot of them were future competition. Seung Gil was the first one to skate who Yuri knew at all, and he did quite well. Not great, but well. Masaki started things off well for Japan, taking the lead, but Phichit was right on his heels. After the final group, Japan’s Sachio was in first, Jude in second, and Togai in third. With Masaki in seventh, it looked like Japan didn’t need Yuuri to do well. Paul was fourth, Phichit eighth, and Seung Gil ninth.

The second day was the free dance and the ladies’ short program. No surprises in the ice dance, so Yuri got some homework done during that. Mila and Yuuri had friends skating in the ladies’ program, so that one, Yuri paid more attention to. Japan was likely disappointed with their results – sure, they had three of the top six, but Yuuko’s second, Sako’s fifth, and Kei’s sixth were not exactly what they were hoping for. At least Cathy and Skye were both strong competitors; it wasn’t like they’d gotten beat by people who weren’t good. Kang Hee, of course, had taken first.

The 24th was Yuri’s first day to compete. With his competition being early, he was going to miss some of Four Continents, which made him kind of grumpy. His fangirls certainly didn’t help, as he signed a few autographs before disappearing when he saw Lev heading toward them. Lev was probably going to keep ignoring him, but why tempt fate?

Yuri was incredibly grateful to be moving up the next year. He was officially bored with novices and the restrictions on triples. Next year, getting to do longer programs and harder jumps, looked really good to him. At least Klaus put up a respectable 34. Yuri wouldn’t have much trouble beating that, not with his skills, but it wasn’t going to be an embarrassingly huge lead. Richard’s 33 was good, too. Yuri went out and skated his program very well, invading the Earth to rid it of creeps. 36 wasn’t the greatest score, but it was good enough.

Yakov noticed the boredom. “You know, you can drop out and call your novice career over.”

“No, I can’t. No one pays prize money for sitting on your ass at the rink just because you don’t have a challenge.”

“You still don’t trust your mother to take care of you and your grandfather?”

“Not at all. Herself and her girls, sure, I’ve got sponsors, but Grandpa? No. I don’t think it’s ever occurred to her to offer to help him out.”

“Kolya has a strong sense of pride. He may not be willing to take Boris’s money.”

“Yeah, well, either way, it still leaves me responsible for looking after him the way he looked after me when Mama wouldn’t.”

Yakov didn’t argue too hard, just sent Yuri to go find recordings of Four Continents. He’d long missed pairs, which was a big shame – Salomat and Stas had ended up in fourth. He was just in time to watch the most of the last group of the men’s. Yuhan’s score had just come up, putting him in second behind Masaki. Clarien had come from behind to beat Phichit and Seung Gil, meaning they were both likely to drop a spot, but still. A top ten finish for them was great. Su and Paul both did well, but Togai had an uncharacteristic fall on his triple axel, dropping him to third and guaranteeing Paul a medal. Jude won, Sachio took silver, and Paul got bronze. Yuuri would have won this easily if he’d gone, but Japan probably wasn’t complaining too much about second, fifth, and sixth.

 

Once again, Yuri had to miss Four Continents for his free skate. Between Yakov trying to get him to quit and go home and the creepy Angels who showed up at ridiculous o’clock in the morning, Yuri was in exactly the kind of mood that suited his program perfectly. He was going to destroy Earth scum.

Not included in Earth scum: Richard. “Happy birthday. Officially old enough to get the hell out of novices.”

“Yep. I haven’t decided if I’m going to yet, but just knowing I could has me excited.”

That excitement translated to the ice, and Yuri glanced at Yakov when Richard landed a triple flip as his first jump. After that, he stuck to doubles, and his score of 55 put almost no pressure on Yuri. “I know Richard and Klaus did a triple, but I don’t want to see one from you, Yuri. You can win this without it,” Yakov said while they waited for Klaus’s score.

“Fine.” Klaus had done a triple as well, giving him a 58, but Yuri figured that wouldn’t change anything. He’d gotten over sixty without triples before. He could do it again, especially with everything he had pent up right now. He went out and blasted creeps left and right, tearing up the planet on his crusade. He skated very well, he thought. Yakov didn’t say much to him, just a comment about not getting sloppy on his double axels, and Yuri’s 65 certainly helped explain that. He’d never heard of anyone getting a 65 without at least one triple, but he’d just done it, giving him an overall of 102. “Yakov?”

“You skated very well. I’m proud of you. You earned that score and that gold medal.”

Yuri spent the next couple hours at the rink, trapped by Angels as he signed autographs and posed for selfies. When he was finally able to get free, he didn’t see Lev anywhere, so he went back to the hotel so that could keep being true. He found videos of the skaters he or his friends knew. Kei recovered, a little bit. Sako didn’t. She dropped below Canada’s skater Cassie. Japan ended up with second, fifth, and seventh. Kang Hee won, Skye took bronze, and Cathy was fourth.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's go to Sochi!
> 
> Timeline: end of January/early February 2014

Yuuri’s time in Osaka was mostly just exhausting. From the time he got up in the morning until he flopped into bed at night, he was running around, talking to reporters, posing for pictures, recording commercials, and meeting with sponsors. Despite the closeness to the Olympics, Viktor encouraged Yuuri to indulge the stress eating – it’s not like he wasn’t going to be working it off.

Having Morooka around helped, but it had its own drawback. Word had gotten around that Yuuri had told Morooka that he would cooperate with whatever Morooka wanted him to do, and that had, naturally, gotten twisted. Yuuri had a new soulmate, according to some rumors, while others went for the explanation of Yuuri cheating on Viktor with a reporter. Viktor thought it was hilarious, and Yuuri probably would once he could think straight again, but right now, it was just embarrassing and frustrating.

As bad as the publicity tour was in Osaka, Yuuri discovered sympathetically that it could have been so much worse. One of the Canadian skaters, Cassie White, turned eighteen during Four Continents, and had to endure not just the typical Olympics coverage, but incessant questions about her soulmate – and trying to skate on top of that. Finishing sixth was something of a miracle for her.

Their flights home were close together, so Yuuri approached her at the airport to offer sympathy for annoying press. Cassie appreciated it very much. “It wouldn’t be so bad if I could just talk about her, but she’s fifteen and doesn’t want to know about it until after the Olympics. Doesn’t want to be a distraction.”

“I can understand that. I wouldn’t want to be a distraction from the Olympics either. Is she someone you knew before?”

“Yeah, my best friend’s little sister. She’s awesome and I’m so happy about it, but I’ll be happier after the Olympics when I don’t have to keep the secret. I told her in the dream that I’d rather be distracted by my soulmate than by this secret, but she didn’t want to know because of the crap some reporters pull when a soulmate’s three years younger. Never made any sense to me anyway, three years is a pretty normal age difference between soulmates.”

“Having been the younger soulmate, I can easily see how it could go badly. Viktor was always great about things, but even so, for the first couple years there was always that thought in the back of my mind that I was holding him back and withholding something he had a right to. If he’d been a little less patient or didn’t believe so strongly in treating me right, it would’ve been very easy for him to take advantage of that.”

Cassie tilted her head. “I hadn’t thought about that. I’ve known her for years and I’m not going to try to force anything, but I really should start by respecting her wishes here.”

 

Back in Saint Petersburg, Yuuri and Viktor spent as much of their semester break on the ice as they could. The Olympics were coming up fast, and both of them would be skating both in the team event and their individual competitions. Misha, Georgi, and Mila were also training as hard as humanly possible for the Olympics. Yuri stayed out of their way, letting them focus. He had a competition coming up, too, but he was not at all worried about it.

The semester started on February 3rd. Once again, Yuuri was doing a lot of translations, this time focused on social and political texts, and the big thing for the semester was a project. Viktor was excited because most of his classes were electives, and he was looking forward to the chance to study cultures outside of Europe. It wasn’t going to be much, but it was going to be some. He also had a term paper to write.

The problem was that they were leaving for the Olympics on the 4th. One day of classes and then gone for two weeks. For Viktor, there wasn’t a problem at all – the professors were bending over backwards to accommodate him for the Olympics. Yuuri’s professors were less accommodating, and one of them refused to work with Yuuri at all. The morning Yuuri was due to leave, he got a call from the professor, saying she had changed her mind and had sent an email with notes, practice exercises, and dates he could make up the quiz he would miss.

When he hung up, Yuuri stared at his phone. “Not that I’m complaining, but I wonder what changed her mind. It’s an elective, I’d have been okay without the class, but it’s one I really wanted to do.”

“I would imagine a phone call from the Olympic committee got her attention,” Yakov said. “I called them and told them that one of my skaters was having trouble making arrangements to go to the Olympics, and if you didn’t get to go, neither did any of my other skaters.”

Yuuri gasped. “You’d take this away from Misha after all? From Mila?” As much as he appreciated Yakov’s faith in him, he hated the thought of the sacrifices his friends had made being for nothing. Especially over a stupid elective.

“It was a bluff. There was no way they’d call it, though. Not with the Olympics in Sochi. Not with national pride on the line.”

Misha reached over and patted Yuuri’s shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I’m all for Yakov using that bluff. I love it.” Mila agreed, so Yuuri did his best to forget about it and appreciate his professor's change of heart.

 

It was great to be back in Olympic Village, especially with so many of his friends here. The first thing Yuuri did after settling in was to go looking for Phichit. He found Phichit in a courtyard taking selfies with various friends. Yuuri ran over and photobombed one with Lukas. Phichit noticed right away and turned around to hug Yuuri. “You made it!”

“Yep!” They posed for a proper selfie together. “Are you excited yet?”

“I am! I’m going to be carrying the flag for the opening ceremonies! Closing ceremonies will depend, there’s a skier who might get it, but there are questions about how she qualified for the Olympics. Thailand wouldn’t want to draw much attention to her.”

“What questions?”

“She qualified at the last minute, and there were accusations that the race was rigged to give her the points she needed. She appealed, so she’ll get to compete, but no one wants her to be the face of Thailand.”

“Oof. They’ve got the hockey captain carrying for Russia, and Yuuko’s carrying for Japan. I hope I get to march in the closing ceremonies this time.”

“Yeah, don’t get yourself hurt, Yuuri! Viktor’s not carrying the flag?”

“They’re talking about him for the closing ceremonies, but no official decision yet. He doesn’t care, he’s gotten to carry the flag before.”


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olympics - Team Trophy Part 1
> 
> Timeline: Feb 6-9, 2014

No time was wasted in getting everything going. The men’s short program for the team trophy was the first event, held the day before opening ceremonies. Neither Yuuri nor Viktor were competing in this one, but they went anyway, to support their friends and teammates who were in it. Sachio was the first skater, and he started well. He’d been chosen for the short program because Japan wanted Yuuri to skate against Viktor, and Russia was expected to have Misha skate the short program because of his age. Sachio’s score wasn’t bad at all, starting things off with an 87.

Bin got into the 80s as well. Misha came out strong, not holding anything back, and he earned a 91, good enough for the lead. Paul’s score was over 80, while Michele and Kaleb both got 79s. Chris couldn’t quite catch Misha, but he did take second with an 89. The pairs also skated on the first day, where Angelina and Timofey got third for Russia, while Ayako and Chohei got sixth for Japan. Russia had a good lead, but America was close behind, with Japan in third.

 

The next day was a day off for the opening ceremonies. Yuuko did a great job with the flag, and Yuuri was very happy to walk with the rest of Team Japan, except for not getting to walk with Viktor. Once the parade of nations was over, Yuuri and Viktor gathered their friends. “I know some of you have to skate tomorrow, so we probably shouldn’t go anywhere, but no reason we can’t take over a corner of the Olympic Village to hang out!”

Getting everyone who was expected to be there together was quite the feat, and then there were some unexpected guests. Yakov was initially skeptical about letting Yuri come, but when Misha pointed out that Nika, Kristýna, and the triplets would be there, Yakov gave in – as long as Yuri behaved himself and didn’t touch the alcohol. Kei coming was a bit of a surprise, until Togai explained – she was his soulmate. Some of the pairs skaters came, including Stas and Salomat.

“Did Boris come to watch you?” Yuri asked when he saw Stas.

“No. Not sure he knows I’m skating. Even if he did, I’m not skating for a few days, no reason for him to be here yet. Why, did you want to talk to him?”

Yuri made a face. “Fuck no. I wanted to see Natasha and Katya.”

“Heh. That makes more sense.” Stas grinned. “I’ll let you know if I find out he’s here.”

“Watch, he’ll show up just after I have to leave for my competition.” It would be just his luck, missing his sisters.

Stas laughed at that. “Well, if your mama comes, she and the girls could go with you instead of staying to watch me.”

“Is your mama here?”

“No… couldn’t afford to come to Sochi and pay for her alcohol, and she chose the alcohol." Stas rolled his eyes. "There’s a reason I lived with my aunt and uncle until I finished school after Papa took off.”

“Ugh, I’m sorry.” That, at least, was one Yuri hadn't ever had to deal with. His grandfather drank, of course, but only rarely to the point where he needed to be taken care of instead of taking care of Irina and Yuri, and Irina had barely touched alcohol except for special occasions while Yuri was young. 

Stas waved him off. “Hey, what Russian family _doesn’t_ have that one idiot who takes the Russian alcoholism too far? My parents may be a drunk and an abandoner, but at least neither of them are actively trying to screw me over. I’ll take them over Lev any day.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Phichit, of course, was surrounded by the younger skaters, although Yuuri made a point of hanging out with them, too. Seung Gil's presence was hardly a surprise, although it was clear that Phichit made him come. What was a surprise was that he was drinking. “Should we do something about the fact that he's underage?” Yuuri whispered to Viktor.

“In Russia, no one really cares about four months,” Yuuri whispered back. “Especially for an Olympic athlete. If he’s old enough to compete at this level, he’s old enough to drink, don’t you think?”

“Yakov gave Mila very stern instructions to stay away from alcohol…” Yuuri said.

Viktor shrugged. “Mila has to skate tomorrow! Seung Gil doesn’t.”

“Fair point.” Yuuri decided that even if there ended up being a problem, it wasn't his problem, so he forgot about Seung Gil and focused on having fun.

 

Saturday started with the short dance. Yuuri was nervous about this one – Yumisa and Toru were not exactly favorites. Olesya and Anatolij, Ukraine’s strongest skaters, did well, but Jolanda and Masumi had a bit of a struggle and ended up in third, while Anya and Christov had a drop, leaving them to finish sixth. That was not a fun Kiss and Cry to watch, as their coach ripped them to shreds, Yakov-style. Anya was crying, and as soon as she left Georgi was out of his seat running to her.

Going into the ladies’ short program, the last event before the cut, Japan was tied with Canada for fifth. It was a lot of pressure to put on Iona, since if she couldn’t make up ground on France or Switzerland, they ran the risk of not making it to the free skates. Russia, in second, could afford for Mila to lose some ground, although the skating federation wouldn’t be happy about it.

Cathy broke 70, all but guaranteeing America a spot in the free skates. Mila didn’t look like a fifteen-year-old senior debut, maintaining poise and skating a clean program. She didn’t have the difficulty that Cathy or Iona did, but she performed well. Iona answered Rachelle’s statement for France with her own clean skate, giving her a score of nearly 73 and the lead. Cassie finished low, making the current tie meaningless, and although Italy was likely out of it, Yuuri was still very proud of Sara’s third place finish. 

America was first, Russia second, and Japan moved up to take third by one point over France. Switzerland was the good surprise, finishing one point ahead of Canada for fifth, while China finished a rather disappointing seventh. Yuuri felt kind of bad for Zara and Oscar, Canada’s pairs team, who had been warming up expecting to compete and now wouldn’t get that chance. Japan’s pairs team finished in fourth, ahead of the Swiss team who looked rather unprepared but behind the other three teams.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olympic Team Trophy, Part 2
> 
> Timeline: Feb 9 2014

The men skated first on Sunday. Things were a little awkward – Viktor, Yuuri, Chris, and Paul were all good friends who’d known each other for years, and then there was Valentine, the French skater. Chris was excited to be in. “I’m glad I was skating against Sachio and Misha yesterday. If it had been you two, I probably would’ve been third, and then I might not get to skate today. How do the tiebreakers even work, do you know?”

“That’s exactly why we didn’t skate yesterday!” Viktor said. “It had nothing to do with wanting Misha to skate the shorter program to give him the extra two days’ rest and less tiring program. Nothing at all.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to send Russia and Japan’s skating bodies a fruit basket,” Chris said. “I’m still going to be coming after you two, don’t expect me to just let you win.”

“Of course not! We’d be very disappointed in you if you did,” Yuuri said. "I'm not sure how the tiebreakers work. Highest individual place? That's how they do it for the Grand Prix..."

"Could be they drop the lowest score and recalculate, like they do for gymnastics, too," Viktor said. "Let's just hope it doesn't matter, right?"

 

Valentine, it seemed, was perfectly happy to sit back and let the others have this. His score was barely over 120. Paul did much better, getting up into the 170s.

Yuuri skated third. He had focused on his short program, taking aim at 100, but he understood why the JSF had wanted him here. He was determined to do his best for them. It started well, as he landed both of his opening combos without a problem. The flip he’d fallen on in Japan went much better. It was going to be a great score. He listened very closely as Yakov gave him the critiques, since he’d be skating this program again later this week. 193. He could do better. If he wanted an individual gold, he’d have to do better.

Chris did well, almost getting to 190. Viktor was skating last. He came out strong with his quad flip-half loop-triple salchow combo, getting beautiful height on his flip. His spins were unusually good that day, and whatever demons he was fighting off for himself and Yuuri were thoroughly destroyed as Viktor landed a near-perfect triple flip at the end of his program. Viktor beat Yuuri by a point and a half, getting close to 195.

The ladies would skate next. Switzerland’s skater, Juliette, didn’t get things off to a good start. Yuuko, on the other hand, skated a difficult program beautifully, putting her over 140. Neither Raisa nor Roselyne could get that high, as neither broke 130. Skye did, getting into second, but Yuuko had come through for Japan with a first place finish.

Watching the ice dance was nervewracking. If Yuuri had done two points better, that would have meant another point for Japan. Russia and America would likely take the gold and silver, but Yumisa and Toru were almost certain to finish last in the ice dancing. Beating France for bronze was hardly a guarantee, even if Japan was currently tied for first. Solène and Jean-Augustin hadn't lost all year. Every point helped, and even though logically Yuuri knew the JSF would put the blame on the pairs and ice dance skaters who finished at the bottom instead of the singles skaters who finished at the top, it didn't really stop the building anxiety.

Jolanda and Masumi started things off huge, and it was obvious how outclassed Yumisa and Toru were. Anya and Christov took the ice with a huge chip on their shoulder after the short dance disaster, and it showed – but thankfully, it suited their program, and they set a new world record with their dance at 114. The pressure had obviously gotten to the French team, too, but in their case, it was a detriment. A bunch of small mistakes added up to put them third. Elyse and Malachi had a very good shot at silver for America, but they struggled, too, finishing an uncharacteristic fourth.

Russia had claimed the gold. Japan and America tied for second, with France a point behind in fourth, and Switzerland last. After a quick consultation, it was announced that Japan had taken the silver medal, with America taking the bronze. Yuuko burst into tears when Minako explained the tiebreaker – Japan had a first-place finisher, while America’s best finish was second.

 

Everyone was all smiles as the medals were awarded, but Viktor sobered quickly as soon as the cameras were gone. “Is anyone else a little concerned about Anya and Christov’s recovery and world record?”

“What do you mean?” Yuuri asked.

“I mean, they had trouble in the short program, and you saw them in the Kiss and Cry afterward. They looked like they’d lost the free programs for Russia, instead of just putting us in second. And then, the next day, they’re not just winning, they're setting a world record? Normally I wouldn’t question it, I’d just chalk it up to determination to do better and redeem themselves, but… I can’t shake the memory of Yakov getting ‘encouraged’ to get Misha and Mila doping up.”

Yuuri shook his head, swallowing hard. He could certainly understand why Viktor was concerned, although he didn't agree with the fears. “I don’t think it works overnight like that, and I think Anya’s got better sense.”

“I hope you’re right. I don’t want this gold medal to mean nothing, especially if I don’t get one in the individuals.”

Yuuri kissed Viktor. “I promise to make you work for it, if you do earn gold in singles.”

"Good! If it's not me, I'll be okay if it's you! Or Misha, of course."

Misha punched Viktor's shoulder lightly. "Good recovery. I'm with Yuuri - I don't think they started doping after yesterday. On the other hand, they may have been doping longer, and the breakdown was the worry that they had sold out only to fuck everything up anyway."


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone check to see if Yuri's been replaced by a pod person. Also, pairs days.
> 
> Timeline: February 10-12, 2014

There was no skating on Monday, so Viktor and Yuuri gathered friends to go explore Sochi. The exploration didn’t last very long, as only a short walk away from the Olympic Village, they found an amusement park. Roller coasters, shows, games, craft demonstrations, even a nature park. Yuuri particularly enjoyed a science fiction themed area, while Viktor went nuts over the fairy tales. Phichit could barely keep up with selfies, and Emily made them all swear not to tell her coach that she rode a roller coaster four times and ended up getting sick from it.

 

The next day’s only event was the pairs short program. Yuri and Lilia had to leave, much to Yuri’s disgust – he would be skating the same days as the men’s competitions, so he was missing his stepbrother and four out of five rinkmates. At least he’d be back to watch Mila.

That morning, Lilia came to find Yuri, along with an official from the Russian Skating Federation. “I just checked the list of skaters to see who you’d be skating against,” Lilia said.

“Richard’s the only one, I think,” Yuri said. That was the worst thing about all this.

“No. Richard withdrew yesterday. No reason listed, which isn’t unusual for novices, but it means that you wouldn’t have even the pretense of competition. Are you sure you want to go just to skate an exhibition?”

Yuri blinked. It didn’t really change much – he’d have beaten Richard unless something went horribly wrong, and they wouldn’t give him the gold medal if he didn’t complete the program – but at the same time, it changed a lot. Getting hurt in competition was a risk of skating. Getting hurt in exhibition… and he could watch Stas and his rinkmates… what would his grandpa say, though?

Grandpa would tell him to enjoy this opportunity. He could miss this and still make the championship, given that everyone else was, so it was just this one prize he was missing out on. “I don’t know…”

“Do it for Russia,” the official said. “If you don’t go, Lilia can stay here and help Yakov look after his skaters. Four skaters is a lot to keep an eye on.”

Yuri had been leaning toward staying, but now, there was a flare of rebellion. “Yakov’s used to it, they’re all pretty good about getting themselves ready, and besides, Minako’s here, she’ll help him.”

Lilia put a hand on Yuri’s shoulder. “If you want to go, then we’ll go. If you want to stay, I’m sure Yakov will appreciate the help and your rinkmates will appreciate your support. It’s your choice.”

Yuri was still waffling when there was a knock at the door. Yuri opened it. His face lit up in a huge smile and he turned to face Lilia. “Withdraw me. I’m staying here.”

Lilia raised an eyebrow, but understanding dawned on her face when Yuri opened the door farther. Boris and Irina were there with Yuri’s sisters. “I’ll do that and let Yakov know your decision.”

Once Lilia and the official guy were gone, Yuri held out his arms to Natasha for a hug. “When did you guys get here?”

“Last night. We’re only staying for the pairs skating, so when Yakov told me you were leaving this morning for a competition, I wanted to be sure to catch you before you left,” Irina said. “Why are you dropping out of your competition?”

“I was gonna be the only novice boy there, and it just felt pointless to go when I could stay and support my friends.”

“Fair enough, then. Do you know where Stas might be?”

“No, but I know he has a cell phone and you can probably text him and ask,” Yuri said.

 

Yuri sat with his family at the competition. Irina let him sit by Natasha, which meant that he got to be the one answering all her questions about what was happening. “Could we skate together like that sometime, when I’m big enough?”

Yuri thought for a minute. “I don’t think we could in competition, by the time you’d be old enough to skate with me I’d be pretty old for skating, but there’s no reason we couldn’t just for fun.”

“Oops! He dropped her! Doesn’t that hurt?”

“Yes, it does. You’re not supposed to do that, but it happens. Just like falling.”

“Ow. Poor lady.” They watched a few more pairs. “How come that lady’s not wearing a skirt like the others?”

“They don’t have to. A lot of them do, dunno why, but you’re allowed to wear pants or a bodysuit like that.”

“Do the men ever get to wear skirts?”

“Nope. We have to wear trousers.”

“That’s not fair.”

“No, it’s not… we can design our costumes to have skirts, I guess, we just have to have trousers too.” Yuri could name several skaters who’d leave the trousers off if they thought they could get away with it, too, starting with one of his own rinkmates. Especially back before his big haircut, Viktor would have loved to wear a skirt on its own.

“How come it’s always the men doing the lifting? They get to drop the ladies but the ladies never get to drop them.”

Yuri suppressed the smile. “Men are usually bigger, so they’re harder to lift, and stronger, so they have an easier time lifting their partner. The men aren’t dropping them on purpose, you know.” The team on the ice had a drop, and this time, the lady managed to take her partner down with her. “And sometimes that happens.”

Natasha giggled. “Good! He shouldn’t have dropped her.”

“It was an accident. He could have been hurt.”

“He wasn’t, though.” Natasha started bouncing when the next pair took the ice to warm up – it was Salomat and Stas. “Stas isn’t going to drop her, is he?”

“I hope not.” Fortunately, he didn’t, although they did fall on a side-by-side triple flip. Perfect synchronization, too.

“Were they supposed to do that?” Natasha asked.

“No, but they sure made it look like they were, didn’t they?”

Natasha got very excited when they announced the score and realized they were in first. “That’s good!”

“It is, but don’t get too excited. There’s still a lot of teams left, including all of the best teams. For them, though, a top ten finish is going to be great.” Stas and Salomat finished eighth, just ahead of the team from Japan. The Americans were in first, with Lina and Tima in third.

“Mama? Why do the ladies tend to choose skirts?” Yuri asked once they got out.

Irina shrugged. “When I was skating, that’s all we were allowed to wear. It’s probably just tradition.”

 

For the free skate, Irina offered to trade with Yuri and deal with Natasha’s questions, but Yuri declined. Even when it got kind of annoying, it was worth it. “Is that spinny thing hard?”

“Which one?”

“That one.” Natasha pointed to the death spiral the Japanese team was doing. “It looks hard.”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried one. It does look hard, though! You’d have to trust your partner a lot.”

“Is that why it’s such a big deal to Stas that Salomat’s his partner and his soulmate?”

“Yeah, probably, probably easier to trust a soulmate than some random person. I know some of them skate with a sibling.”

“Who’s your soulmate?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“If it’s a girl who’s old enough, would you switch to pairs?”

“I don’t think so… I don’t like the thought of dropping someone. When I’m out there, if I mess up, I’m the only one I hurt.”

Stas and Salomat’s skate went well, moving them up into second going into the final group. A medal was highly unlikely, but sixth meant Uzbekistan was probably melting down celebrating tonight. The Americans took gold, Lina and Tima silver, and a Canadian team just edged out the French for bronze.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Men's short program.
> 
> Timeline: 13 February 2014

The men’s skate was the next event, and Yuuri and Viktor both couldn’t hold still. Yes, they would both be at Worlds, they had another chance at breaking 100 this year, but they wanted to do it here. The Olympics were that big a deal. Phichit came to Yuuri. “Hey. Are you gonna come out to watch me?”

Yuuri paused in his stretching. “Of course! I wouldn’t miss it, Phichit. Maybe it’ll shut up this anxiety telling me that I’m not good enough. Good luck!” He glanced at the screen – the first group was just getting started, and Yuuri didn’t know anyone in that group very well. “I can’t believe Togai’s skating so early. I know it’s partly just luck, but…”

“He’ll do good. He won’t be skating early tomorrow. I just hope I’m skating tomorrow.”

“You should be! I hope you are, too.” Yuuri hugged Phichit and went back to stretching.

Togai skated first in the second group, and Yuuri paused in his stretching to watch the screen. Viktor joined him, hugging him while they watched. Togai did very well, becoming the first skater to break 80, and he remained the only skater over 80 through the second group. In the third group, Seung Gil got close, and Paul finally beat Togai. While they waited for Paul’s score, Yuuri walked out to where he could watch Phichit live. He did well, his lower difficulty compensated for by being very fun to watch. Yuuri hugged him when he came back to the holding room. “That was great, Phichit! You’re skating tomorrow!”

“Yeah. Ciao Ciao is thrilled with how Paul and I did. Me too!” Phichit collapsed on the ground dramatically. “So glad it’s done. Wake me up when you and Viktor head out to skate.”

“Heh. Okay. You might want to scoot somewhere a little safer.” Yuuri went back to his warming up, pausing at the beginning of group four. Georgi was the first skater, and he took the lead away from Paul. Sachio was up next, and he moved into second. Bin put forth the best skate of his season, doing very well and beating Georgi.

Christophe skated first in the final group, and he just barely beat Bin. Viktor was up second, and Yuuri walked out with him after waking Phichit, since he was skating third. He started out very strong with his two quads, and his skating was generally excellent. Yakov had things to say, but when Viktor’s score came up, Yakov was happy to celebrate with him. 100.72. Viktor was the first skater to break 100. Russia would be pleased.

Yuuri didn’t start out as well, nerves causing him to stumble a bit out of his quad toe loop. With that mistake behind him, Yuuri was able to settle himself down and skate better. He’d made some adjustments in his program. The biggest one was he changed his last jump from a triple salchow to a quad. He landed it cleanly and had no trouble with the second jump of the combo. Yakov had some things to say, but Viktor, Yakov, Minako, and Lilia nearly squished Yuuri when his score came up. 101.45, becoming the second skater to break 100 and setting a second world record for the day.

Kamil and Jude both did well, but not well enough to beat Georgi. Misha was the last skater, and he made it into the final group, with Yuuri, Viktor, Christophe, Bin, and Georgi. Yakov couldn’t stop smiling as he gathered his skaters together. “All three skaters in the final group, Viktor setting a world record, and the 100 mark going down." Yakov glared at Viktor, who had opened his mouth to question Yakov's ability to count, and Viktor shut up. "Russia is very proud of her skaters tonight. I'm sure Japan is proud of their ace. I’m even prouder of my skaters. All four in the final group, including two world records. Take good care of yourselves tonight, and be prepared tomorrow. Avoid distractions as best you can." Everyone promised. "One more thing, they have results from the ice dance drug tests.”

“And?” Georgi asked, crossing his arms.

“And Anya tested clean.” Georgi let his arms drop, but Yakov wasn’t done. “Christov… the initial testing came back positive. They’re running additional tests. Christov says that he's clean and he expects to be vindicated, but what else is he going to say? If the media wants to talk to you about it, you know nothing. This has not been announced, they have only informed affected athletes and their coaches, the only reason I know is because Radoslav didn’t want Georgi to get ambushed by the inevitable leak and distracted before tomorrow's skate.”

 

Georgi did get asked about rumors of doping among Russian skaters, but he deflected well, commenting only that of the skaters who had made it, he didn’t believe any of them needed doping to perform the way they had so far. Misha got asked as well, and his answer was more personal, pointing to years of domination as part of Yakov's dynasty supporting that he was just this good without the drugs. For once, the media behaved themselves with Viktor and Yuuri. “Viktor, this has happened before where one of you set a record only to watch the other beat it. Is it any different, it happening at the Olympics?”

“This one is different because of the significance of getting over 100!” Viktor said. “Yakov challenged us to do it this year, and we both very much wanted to do it here and not have to save it for Worlds. Normally, everyone forgets the record that lasted ten minutes, but this time, it won’t be. I’m glad it happened this way, so that we both have something amazing to celebrate no matter what happens tomorrow!”

“Misha and Georgi both did well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Yakov Feltsman that happy. We saw that you had a meeting after the skating ended. Can you tell us what he said?”

“He said that Russia is very proud of three of us and he’s proud of all four, but not to start celebrating too soon. We don’t have our medals yet!” Viktor winked at the camera.

“The two of you are fourteen points ahead of the rest of the final group. Does that affect how you plan to approach tomorrow?”

“Not at all,” Yuuri said. “I may be fifteen points ahead of Chris, but I’m not even a full point ahead of Vitya. I know he’s coming after me, he wants that gold medal after two silvers, so I can’t just sit back and enjoy my lead. After all, while it’s nice to know that I will likely get a medal, I want the gold.”


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Free Skate!
> 
> Timeline: February 14, 2014

As soon as they got back to their room, Viktor had Yuuri in his arms holding on tight. “You’ve got this. You can hold on and win, you can medal, and we will all be very happy to see whatever you do.”

“Thank you. I love you so much. Tomorrow do what you need to do your best, Minako can look out for me, but you’ll stay close to me tonight?”

“Of course.” Viktor kissed Yuuri’s forehead. “Nowhere else I’d rather be.”

“What do you think about Christov?”

“I think Anya looked too surprised to think she knew anything, and as close as they are, I don’t know how she wouldn’t have. I don’t know. That’s why they have tests to confirm their findings. I hope Christov’s clean, but I don’t know.”

 

While they were waiting for the free skate to start, Phichit came over to Viktor and Yuuri. “You guys need to see this.”

“Hmm?”

“The press today has been their usual selves. Viktor needs to win this for Russia, the two of you are good and happy but will that survive one of you taking the gold, blah blah blah. But then there’s this one.”

Yuuri took Phichit’s phone and started laughing. “They do have a point! We have to win this, Viktor. Everyone wants to see love triumph on Valentine’s Day, and Chris to get the other medal because it’s his birthday.”

Viktor took the phone and started reading out loud. “We’ve seen Viktor and Yuuri compete against each other often. We’ve even seen them compete in the Olympics together. Viktor got silver to Japanese skater Hokama Masato, and Yuuri finished sixth. This time around, it’s different. Viktor has a good chance of losing gold to a Japanese skater again, but this time, it’s his husband. What could be a better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with Olympic gold and silver medals?” He handed the phone back to Phichit and hugged Yuuri. “They’re right, you know! That would be the best way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, since we can’t go out on a proper date.”

“I’m not getting into the medals, but I’m cheering so hard for you two,” Phichit said. “I can’t wait to see the stories of the husbands side by side on the Olympic medal platform.”

Phichit was skating in the second group, and he lit up the ice. Togai took the lead from him, but for Phichit, this had been an amazing success. Sachio took the lead from Togai, and then Paul skated better than Yuuri had ever seen. Kamil had an excellent routine, and going into the final group, he had the lead.

Georgi was struggling on the ice, having trouble with some of his jumps. He tumbled to below Paul. Bin couldn’t catch him. Christophe started out well, but he missed the landing of his quad Lutz, and then a couple other mistakes dropped him below Kamil and out of the medals.

Viktor and Yuuri walked out hand in hand, and Viktor took the ice full of confidence and love. It showed almost immediately in a very strong quad flip. The jumps continued to be strong for him, and although he didn’t feel he’d done as well as he had in the team skate, he did believe he’d done enough that he had a chance at gold. 194, for an overall of 294, that was good. That was close to the world record. But was it enough?

That would be up to Yuuri to determine. Yuuri looked a little nervous as he started, underrotating the triple toe loop on his opening combo, but he recovered nicely. Gold was still in reach, if he settled down and skated as well as he could. It went well, and when Yuuri skated to the Kiss and Cry, Viktor just shook his head when Yuuri asked him who won. “It’s going to be close. Too close for me to call.”

“Agreed,” Yakov said. “Judges have seemed to favor performance over technical skill, which gives you the edge, Yuuri. I think you have gold.”

Yuuri and Viktor held hands waiting for the score. 193, for a total of 295, just below the world overall record. It was very close between Viktor and Yuuri, three tenths, but Yuuri had the gold. The podium was fun, with Yuuri standing between Viktor and Misha. It felt like hours the three of them were up there for pictures, and then more pictures and congratulations from their friends.

 

The press was waiting once they finally made it out. “Viktor, this is your third Olympics, and your third silver medal. You were so close this time. Are you disappointed?”

“Of course! Who wouldn’t be? I’m hoping to be in the 2018 Olympics, but I’ll be twenty-nine then, and there’s no guarantee that my body will hold up to the training. Then again, last time I lost to Masato, and he was twenty-nine at the time! If this was my last chance at it, three silver medals in three Olympics is something that most skaters would give anything to achieve. I wanted that gold medal, I did my best to get it, but Yuuri did just enough better.”

“Yuuri, if the situation were reversed, do you think you’d be able to take it as happily as Viktor is?”

“Yes, I do. As much as I would love to skate with my husband for another four years, the reality is that this may have been his last chance. I’ll be twenty-five in 2018, so unless I’m injured, I have a good chance at defending my gold medal. If I didn’t have one, I’d have a good chance at earning one then, and it’s possible I could be around for 2022, too.”

“We’ve heard some rumors about Russian skaters. Specifically, one of the ice dancers failed a drug test. With the ice dance individual competition starting in two days, do you believe Christov should be allowed to compete?”

“That’s a question for the ISU to decide, not for us,” Viktor said. “If it’s true, then the smart people whose job it is to decide things like that are the ones who need to say.”

“If it’s true? You believe his claims that it’s a false positive?”

“I don’t know Christov all that well, but I always like to believe the best of people until there is enough evidence to be sure. Rumors of a positive preliminary drug test are not.”

 

Once the reporters were gone, Yuuri leaned against Viktor. “Do you think they’ll let Christov compete?”

“I don’t know. It’s too late to bring in an alternate. They may have the results of the second test by then, I don’t know how long that takes. I think they should – if he’s guilty, they can strip him of any medals or records he and Anya earn, but if he’s innocent, there’s no way to correct not allowing him to skate. I’m just happy this didn’t throw Georgi off too badly. Russia is somewhat disappointed not to have gotten the sweep, but second, third, and eighth is still excellent.” Viktor looked around and lowered his voice. “Don’t tell anyone, but I cared a lot more about the Feltsman sweep than the Russian sweep, and that one we did get.”

"Heh." Yuuri wrapped his arms around Viktor's neck. "I know we're supposed to go out and celebrate Valentine's Day and our medals, but I'm exhausted, and there's no skating tomorrow. Can we just go back to our room?"

"Of course! We can celebrate a day late, there's no skating tomorrow to miss."

On the way, Yuuri's phone rang. He picked it up. "Masato?"

"Congratulations! It's good to see the gold staying in Japan."


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple important decisions get made, and ice dance and ladies' skates.
> 
> Timeline: February 15-20, 2014

The first thing Viktor and Yuuri did the next day was find Christophe. “Happy birthday! I promise, we didn’t forget, we just couldn’t find you after getting through press.”

“I wasn’t really in the mood to celebrate, after the way I blew medaling,” Chris said. “I’m happy for you guys and Misha, don’t get me wrong! Just disappointed with how I skated.”

“Well, we’ll have to celebrate today, then. Let’s see how many friends we can round up!” Viktor said. It turned out to be quite a lot – a few people, not having made the exhibition, had decided to go home, but that still left all the ice dancers and ladies, and several of the men. Georgi chose not to come, because Anya and Christov were staying back in case the ISU came up with anything, one way or the other.

While they were at the aquarium, Misha found Viktor and Yuuri. “I talked to Yakov last night, after I got done with the press. He wasn’t surprised, and I doubt you will be either, but I’m done. Last night was my last competitive skate.”

Viktor hugged Misha. “Not surprised, but still, we’re going to miss you. What now?”

“I’m planning to work with kids. I don’t want to coach at the junior or senior level, I’ve had enough of the constant travel and I want the time with my own kids. Which, by the way. I know you two are planning to keep skating for a while, so if you’re wanting kids soon, you’re going to need a babysitter you can rely on. Whenever you guys are ready, Emya and I are happy to volunteer.”

“And Emiliya knows you’re volunteering her?” Yuuri said. He wasn’t seriously worried, but it couldn't hurt to check, and there was less chance of him waking up at 3 am over it.

“Of course. I wouldn’t do that to her or to you two!”

 

The official word on Christov didn’t come until the morning of the short dance. He and Anya were allowed to compete unless results came in before they took the ice and confirmed the positive test. Georgi spent all morning with them, trying to keep them from getting too tense and blowing their skate anyway.

The call came in right before group 1 started their warmups. Confirmatory tests showed that it was a false positive – the test had picked up a non-banned drug, which Christov was able to show his prescription for, and reacted as if it were banned. “It happens, that’s what the confirmatory tests are for,” is all Christov had to say in public.

It still made watching the ice dancing somewhat awkward, as Anya and Christov did rather poorly. Despite coming in as strong medal contenders, they didn’t finish in the top ten in the short program. They would still be going on, but Russia would, once again, be disappointed in them. This time, though, Anya looked furious, rather than upset or disappointed. Viktor couldn’t blame her. He’d be furious too if he’d been threatened with not being allowed to compete when he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Solène and Jean-Augustin finished in first, with Jolanda and Masumi second, and Elyse and Malachi third. Olesya and Anatolij just barely missed the final group, while Yumisa and Toru did better than expected and finished in eighth.

 

The next day, a reporter came looking for Viktor. “Christov was cleared, and then did much worse than expected yesterday. Do you think he was affected by the distraction?”

“I know that I would have been terribly distracted if I wasn’t sure I’d be allowed to skate until only hours before I was due on the ice,” Viktor said. “I fully expect them to bounce back and at least get into the top ten today.”

“Do you think they can medal?”

“They’ll likely need help, mistakes from the leaders, but you never can rule anything out!”

Anya and Christov took the lead with an excellent score, but it wasn’t enough. Olesya and Anatolij were the first to beat them, and the entire last group did, as well. This time, Solène and Jean-Augustin skated as well as they usually did, instead of being sabotaged by nerves. They were able to hold off Jolanda and Masumi for the gold, giving the Swiss team silver, and the other French team put out an excellent performance to claim bronze from the Americans and Canadians.

 

With another day off between the ice dance and the ladies’ skate, everyone went back out shopping, or to the amusement park again. “Hey, Yuuko?” Yuuri said as they corralled triplets through a toy store.

“Yes?”

“How have the nerves been this time around? Less throwing up?”

“Yuuri!” Yuuko stuck her tongue out at him. “It’s amazing how much easier it is to handle the publicity tours and the skating and the preparation when you’re not pregnant with triplets. Herding them, Takeshi and our friends can help with.”

 

Tahlia had the lead after the first two groups at the ladies’ short program. She quickly lost it to Saila, and Cassie beat her as well. Both Russian skaters were in group four, along with Kei and Cathy. Kei’s nerves showed as she skated, leaving her a little shaken. Cathy was the one to finally beat Saila for the lead, and Raisa skated better than she had all season. Mila finished just above Kei, guaranteeing her a spot in the top ten. In the final group, Yuuko skated second. It was good, giving her a 74, which might be good enough to lead. Kang Hee beat her, but by less than a point. Iona and Sara both did very well, not well enough to beat Yuuko but enough to stay in the final group for the free skate. Skye, the last skater, scored between Kang Hee and Yuuko – three 74s separated by eight tenths, and the next highest score was a 68.

Yuuko was practically bouncing all night. “Kang Hee looks beatable! I might be able to bring Japan another Olympic gold! Of course, I can’t count Skye out, but still, this is so exciting!”

The early groups of the free skate went mostly as expected. Emily recovered from her mistakes the day before, and Kei showed that she was not going to be counted out as she took a rather large lead. Cathy got close, but couldn’t quite beat her. Mila was the last skater in the third group. She and Yakov both started screaming when she took the lead from Kei. She couldn’t finish any lower than seventh.

Yuuko kicked off the final group. She did great, but 142 left a lot of room for Skye and Kang Hee to beat her – and Skye did, almost right away, with a score just a few hundredths under 150. Sara had the unenviable position of skating between Skye and Kang Hee, and although she skated very well, she was nowhere close to the leaders. Kang Hee’s 144 beat Yuuko, but not Skye. She couldn’t do any better than silver. Iona’s free skate score just edged out Yuuko’s, but she was in too deep a hole to beat Yuuko for gold. Raisa was the last skater, and from the moment she did her first jump, Yuuri could tell it was not going to be a good program. Two falls killed any chance she had at a good score, and she ended up dropping to ninth. Skye had won gold, Kang Hee silver, Yuuko bronze, with Iona fourth and Kei seventh, Mila sixth and Raisa ninth.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back from the Olympics, and Yuri's birthday.
> 
> Timeline: late February-March 1, 2014

Misha announced his retirement after the exhibition skate, which meant Viktor and Yuuri got a lot of questions. “This makes you the oldest of Yakov’s skaters, Viktor. Do you think you’ll be getting a new rinkmate soon?”

“It’s possible! If Yakov spots a skater he thinks fits with our rink and wants to take on another skater.”

“Do you think it might be Rykov?”

“No. Yakov prefers to take younger skaters, and Rykov is unlikely to want to leave Moscow.”

“How do you think Russia feels about its figure skating program at this Olympics?”

Viktor's face lit up with a huge smile. “A Feltsman sweep of the men’s podium, another medal in pairs, and both ladies’ singles skaters in the top 10 is very good. I know they’re disappointed in how Anya and Christov did in ice dance, but given the circumstances, I don’t see how they can be too upset. Add in the team gold medal, and I think Russia has every reason to be proud of its program.”

“Yuuri, do you think Japan is happy with how they did?”

“Yes, I believe so. The team silver, along with my gold and Yuuko’s bronze, is a good result. They may be a little disappointed that we didn’t get two medals in the ladies’, but Iona and Kei both finished very high.”

 

With over a month before Worlds, Yakov gave Viktor and Yuuri permission to take a week of very limited training so they could get caught up at school. They’d been diligent about keeping up as best they could, but there were limits to what they could do online. Once they resumed normal practice, Viktor started really missing Misha. “I’ve been skating with Misha since I was nine. It didn’t hit me as hard when the other people who were here when I started left, but Misha…”

“When I left Hasetsu, it was weird skating with everyone here instead of Yuuko and Takeshi. It’s not the same, but it’s similar enough that I think I understand.”

Yakov shook his head when Viktor finally remembered to ask if there was anyone he was looking at to replace Misha. “I hadn’t meant to take anyone after Mila. If Yuri skates until his late 20s, I’ll be in my eighties by then, and I just plain don’t want to still be coaching then. You know how much I hate handing my skaters over to another coach. Yuri was a special case, but I have no intention of taking on a skater who I can’t be with until the end of their career.”

Viktor stared at Yakov. He’d never considered the idea of Yakov retiring. Yakov was such an institution in Russian skating. What would it be like without him? “Do you have any idea what you’re going to do with Yuri?”

“No. I have no idea what things are going to look like in twelve years. Coaches come and go, and I don’t see the sense in thinking that far ahead just yet.”

 

Even as behind as they both were, there was no way Viktor and Yuuri weren’t taking the day off to celebrate Yuri’s 13th birthday. He couldn’t get to America, not with a competition only a few days away, but Nikolai could come up from Moscow for the weekend, and Misha hosted the birthday party so that Nika could be there. They took Yuri out shopping, getting him a new phone and some new clothes, and Yuri got some books and some things for Potya.

Otabek couldn’t come, it was too close to Junior Worlds, but he could call. “Happy birthday. I’m going to kill my sister.”

“Which one?” Otabek had been complaining a lot about Rayana getting annoying about her baby when she knew Otabek couldn’t get home to see him, but Yuri couldn’t see why that would mean he’d want to kill her. Dariya was even less likely – Otabek loved talking about her and how good her skating was getting, and while she was an Angel, she was willing to spy and warn them when silliness was about to break out.

“Dariya.”

“Why? Is she turning into one of the bad Angels?”

“Heh. No. I’m going to kill her because she didn’t tell me she’s going to be in the Hague. JJ was showing me the competition list this morning – his little brother and sister are competing – and there her name was, right there, Dariya Altin, and that was the first I heard about it.”

“How old is she?”

“Eleven. She was eligible to go last year, but Mom and Dad didn’t think she was ready for that.”

“So what you’re telling me is that I’ve got two LeRoys to avoid and your sister to try to find?” Avoiding people, that he could do, he’d had a lot of practice. He wasn’t going to avoid Otabek’s sister even if she was an Angel. From Otabek’s stories, he didn’t want to anyway. She sounded like fun.

“Pretty much. You’re not going to be able to avoid Julien at all, he’s competing against you and from what JJ tells me he’s got a chance to get on the podium.”

“How old’s Julien?” Yuri tried to remember if he'd seen either LeRoy. Cécile, it wouldn't surprise him a bit if he'd missed, but if Julien was competing in novices, he wasn't that oblivious.

“Eleven. He didn’t go last year because of injury. Cécile did, but you don’t really pay attention to the girls much since you’re not competing against them, and you were kind of avoiding everyone anyway because of Lev.”

“Great." That explained it, anyway. "Don’t kill your sister. I don’t want to lose one of the few Angels I know who I can stand.”

Otabek laughed. “Okay. You may not be able to avoid Cécile, either, as soon as I told JJ she’s my sister he called Cécile and told her to look out for her.”

Yuri groaned. “Two LeRoys. Please tell me they’re not as annoying as JJ?”

“Wouldn’t know, haven’t met them yet. I’m going to, though.”

Dread pooled in Yuri's stomach. Whatever was coming, he was not going to like it. “Uhoh. That sounds ominous.”

“JJ’s going back to Canada in June, and I’m going with him. Celestino’s a good coach but not a good fit for me, and JJ’s parents invited me to come with him. Staying here would be spinning my wheels, and at least I’d have someone I know in Toronto.”

Yep. This was awful. “Why not come here? Skate with us?”

“Because I’m not good enough to skate for Yakov Feltsman. Not yet. Besides, I heard he isn’t taking on any more skaters, so even if I wanted to I couldn’t.”

Well, fine, if he was going to be all logical about it. Still, what was so great about Canada instead of finding someone else in America or Russia? “So, what, you and JJ are best friends now?”

“No, you’re my best friend. But yes, JJ and I are friends. He doesn’t act like he does at competitions all the time.”

“Whatever.” Yuri hung up and caught himself just before he threw his phone at the wall. Brand new phone, he could at least wait until he’d had it a day before he started banging it up.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri gets his big brother on.
> 
> Timeline: March 2, 2014

The next morning, Yuri picked up his phone. No texts from Otabek. It’s not like that was unusual, but he’d hoped there’d be something. He was sulky all through practice, bad enough that Yakov told Yuuri to take Yuri to ballet early. On the way over, Yuuri just had to pry. “What’s got you so worked up? You were happy yesterday.”

“Yeah, well, then Otabek told me he’s moving to Canada to train with JJ and his family. Getting abandoned, that I’m used to. Getting replaced by fucking JJ? No.” Yuri shoved his hands in his pockets. “This is why I don’t try to make friends like you and Viktor do. Everyone leaves me.”

Yuuri stopped short. “That’s not true and you know it. There are a lot of people who haven’t left you.”

Yuri turned around. “Yakov’s different, I’m paying him. You and Viktor haven’t yet and you keep saying you won’t, but I’m just waiting for what happens when you get old and quit skating and decide to raise kids instead. Natasha and Katya haven’t had the chance yet, babies can’t leave anyone. Grandpa’s the only one who could leave me and hasn’t and isn’t going to.”

“Misha’s done with skating. Do you think he’s leaving you?”

“Well, yeah. He says he’s there if I need anything and he hopes to see me a lot, but come on. It’ll start out well, but he’ll get busy with his kids and the kids he’s teaching and forget me. You know that’s gonna happen.”

“No, I don’t know that. I know that Misha loves you and encourages you to spend time with him and Nika. That’s not going to change just because he’s retired from skating.”

“We’ll see.” Yuri gave it three months before Misha had forgotten him. Maybe longer if Viktor pulled some stunts, but by the end of the year, he’d never see Misha or Emiliya or Nika again.

“What makes you say Otabek’s leaving you for JJ? If Yakov would take him, I’m sure he’d come here in a heartbeat, but as much as he cares about you and values his friendship, he has to consider his career. There are other coaches here, but no one who coaches at the Grand Prix level, and that’s where Otabek is trying to be. Do you really want him to skate for someone who can’t help him grow, just to come here?”

“I’d kill him. Sabotaging his career for me is just stupid.” Thinking about it like that helped Yuri get past his fear, at least a little bit. “But he did decide on Canada just because JJ's gonna be there.”

“I know you don’t like JJ, and if Phichit of all people hasn’t befriended him after skating with him for two years I wouldn’t expect you to, but if Otabek has, then if he can’t go home or to his best friend or stay with the friends he has in Detroit, can you really blame him for deciding to go where he can go and does have a friend?”

“No, I guess not.” Yuri was beginning to think that maybe he’d been an asshole. If it was just about where he wanted to be, Otabek would be headed for Almaty. He loved his homeland and his city and his family there.

“Do you really think Otabek’s abandoning you just because he has another friend out there?”

Yuri sighed, long and deep. Dammit. “No. I think he’s abandoning me because I have some serious issues with abandonment thanks to my asshole parents, and since I hate JJ so much, I overreacted that much worse.”

Yuuri smiled and put a hand on Yuri’s shoulder. “Yakov has probably told Lilia we’re on our way over early, but if you want to take a minute and text him, I bet it’ll make you feel better.”

“Maybe. Can’t hurt anything, at least.” Yuri pulled out his phone.

**Hey. Sorry for yesterday. I overreacted and it’s not your fault at all.**

He put his phone away and started walking again. “How’d you get so smart about all this shit, anyway?”

“Experience. I don’t have your abandonment issues, but fear is fear, right? One of the things Larissa does sometimes is go through my fears with me and point out all the logic holes in them. Mari used to do that when we were kids, even. I’ve tried getting Viktor to do it, but… he’s not exactly the best at being calm and logical when I’m in meltdown.” Yuri snorted. Yeah. He couldn’t imagine Viktor being much use there. Yuuri cleared his throat. “You know, talking to Larissa… it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself. She’s helped me so much, giving me tips and tricks and tools to fight back with. You might want to think about finding someone to help you work through your issues, too. Yours aren’t affecting you on the ice, much, but this could have cost you your best friend.”

Yuri’s first instinct was to prickle and snarl and hiss. If this had been Viktor or Yakov or pretty much anyone else, he would have, but this was Yuuri. Yuuri would not be making this suggestion because he thought Yuri was weak or broken or in need of fixing. “I’ll think about it. Thanks for helping me with this.

 

As Yuuri had predicted, Lilia had been notified, which meant that she was not pleased at how long it had taken the two of them to get to dance. She took it out on them in practice, and the exhaustion got rid of the last traces of Yuri’s rage. Once Lilia was finally done with them, Yuri checked his phone.

**_Thanks. I’d been putting off telling you about this, and I really shouldn’t have done it yesterday._ **  
**_I know you hate JJ and you’re not happy with the thought that he’s my friend._ **  
**_You’re my best friend and nothing will ever change that._ **  
**_But speaking of that, Dariya had a question for me that I really can’t come up with a good answer to._ **  
**_You’re Russian, you get the nickname thing._ **  
**_You really should be calling me Beka by now._ **  
**_I have no idea why I hadn’t told you that before._ **  
**_Sorry it took so long?_ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**

Yuri ran up to his room and flopped on his bed to text back.

**Hadn’t even thought of that.**  
**Everyone calls me Yuri here, even Yakov and Lilia.**  
**Occasionally Yurotchka, but no one calls me Yura.**  
**We should change that.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> International Challenger Cup, Part 1
> 
> Timeline: early March 2014

The International Challenger’s Cup was one of Yuri’s favorite novice competitions, and one that he was seriously thinking about continuing as a junior. Only problem with that was its proximity to Junior Worlds. They’d be going straight to Sofia from here.

When Yuri got to the hotel, he didn’t see anyone who looked like they could be Dariya, but it wasn’t hard to pick out the LeRoys. Yuri recognized Alain and Nathalie, the girl with them looked so much like JJ it hurt, while the boy looked more like Nathalie. He steered away from them, taking a longer way to his room to avoid having to deal with them today. He regretted that quickly when he opened the door to the stairwell, and he turned around and walked right back out. At least he was reasonably sure Lev hadn’t seen him, since he’d been rather busy staring at the woman on her knees in front of him. He really needed some brain bleach, or maybe just to go blind.

He finally made it to his room, with no further adventures. Cat videos were a good way to clear his head, he figured, and he settled in to watch some. Once he’d scrubbed his brain out, he called Yakov. “Lev’s here. I saw him, pretty sure he didn’t see me.”

“Okay. Let’s keep it that way, if we can.”

 

At practice, Yuri kept to himself, ignoring everything except Richard’s birthday congratulations and Klaus’s attempts at a triple Lutz. Novice men were the first competition, and Yuri headed out early because he expected Angels. There was quite the crowd waiting, and Yuri settled in to sign pictures and posters and stuffed animals. It was tedious, but nothing creepy this time, and Yuri got free in time to have plenty of time to do his hair. It had grown back out, enough that he had to do something with it. He loved it.

Julien walked up to Yuri. “My brother will kill me if I don’t at least say hi, so hi. I’m Julien LeRoy.”

“Hi. I know, I saw you with your mom the other day. Good luck today.”

“Thanks. You too.” Julien headed off, leaving Yuri a little surprised. He shoved it aside to get ready to skate.

He was in the second group, along with Richard, Moises, and Klaus. Julien was in the first group, and Yuri was curious enough to watch him. He only did one triple, a toe loop, but there was a preciseness to his skating that Yuri found himself admiring. He was leading after the first group. Klaus didn’t quite take the lead, as he fell on his attempt at the triple Lutz, but he was good enough to not be too far behind. Richard was leading when Yuri went up to skate.

He set up the alien invasion well, and all of his jumps were triples except the axel. Maybe after this, Yakov would let him start working on the triple axel. He wanted to be able to do it by the time he got to the Grand Prix qualifiers. His 48 dwarfed Richard’s 41, so Yuri didn’t worry about it.

Once he changed, he went out to watch the girls. Normally, he wouldn’t, but he hadn’t seen Dariya and wanted to be sure he knew what she looked like. She was skating early, and Yuri watched critically. Otabek struggled with choreography and dance, but Dariya didn’t seem to share that. She had trouble with jumps. Doubles were fine, but she didn’t even try a double axel, let alone a triple anything. There were a few little things that looked familiar to Yuri.

**Dariya did good. Does she watch me?**

**_As much as she can. I’m a little jealous. She’s my sister, but she likes your skating better._ **

**Sorry. At least she picked a good skater?**

**_It’s because of the ballet. Unlike me, she’s good at it._ **  
**_Not on your level, but she didn’t have Lilia Baranovskaya teaching her._ **

 

Yuri stuck around to watch a bit more. As the final group warmed up, he felt someone sit beside him. “My brother told me that he was making an exception to the rule that I have to be one of the good Angels or he’ll kill me. I’m allowed to come introduce myself even though you really prefer to be left alone.”

Yuri smiled. “Hi, Dariya. Beka’s right, you get special privileges there. Even if you weren’t Beka’s sister, skaters are different from fans.”

Dariya’s cheeks reddened a bit. “Oh. You already know who I am.”

“I watched you skate. Who did your choreography? It was great.”

“My ballet teacher.” She sighed and looked out at the ice, where a skater had just landed a double Lutz. “I need to get a proper coach, but Mom and Dad won’t let me go to Russia.”

“Well, Beka didn’t go until he was thirteen, maybe they’ll let you go then? When you’re starting juniors?”

Dariya shook her head, looking down at her hands. “I don’t think so. Maybe they’d let me go if I can join Beka wherever he is, but they’re not gonna let me go on my own.”

“Why not? They let Beka.”

“He’s a boy, he can look after himself. I’m also the youngest kid, so…”

“What’s being a boy got to do with anything?” There was more competition for girls, so if anything, Dariya was more in need of going somewhere she could get good training, not less.

“I don’t know, I’m not the one who won’t let me go.” Dariya shrugged. “I’ll just have to do the best I can with what I can get. Oh, hey, Cécile’s up!”

“You and Cécile are friends?” Great. He wasn’t going to be able to avoid her and hang out with Dariya.

“I dunno, seems a little strong, but we hung out yesterday and she’s pretty cool.”

Cécile was good. Her choreography was more complex than anything else Yuri had seen today, and she was jumping well. “Her spins are kind of crap, aren’t they?”

“Definitely a weakness for her,” Dariya agreed. “Then again, she’s making up the points in the jumps, so…”

“Maybe if things work out for Beka with the LeRoys, you can join him in Canada.”

Dariya shrugged. “Maybe. I hope so. Of course, with three skaters of their own plus Beka, they might not want to take another kid.”

 

Dariya took off as soon as the novice girls were finished. Cécile had the lead. Yuri shook his head and pulled out his phone.

**Finally met Dariya. Wasn’t expecting her to be so shy.**

**_Shy? Dariya? Are you sure you met my sister and not some random Angel claiming to be her?_ **

**Well, it was the person who skated under Dariya’s name, so it better be her.**

**_Huh. Must be because it’s you. Wish I’d been there to see it, she normally never shuts up._ **

**You’ll never guess who she’s making friends with.**

**_Not you, obviously. Who?_ **

**Cécile LeRoy.**

**_Huh. That’s good to hear. If Dariya likes her she can’t be too awful._ **

 

Yuri found Dariya out in the lobby, talking to Cécile and Julien. He hesitated, but walked over to them. Otabek had a point about Cécile, and Julien hadn't been bad. “Hey. Some of us have a tradition of going to play laser tag after a competition. You guys should come with us.”

“Who’s we?” Cécile asked.

“I know Richard, Kasimir, and Klaus are coming, I bet some of the others will.”


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri is too freaking young for this shit.

After laser tag, Richard’s coach took anyone who wanted to go to dinner, and Yuri decided to go with them. Nice big crowd, low probability of seeing Lev, and Cécile and Julien weren’t awful like JJ. Yuri watched in surprise as Julien got out a Kindle and started reading while he waited for his order. Cécile rolled her eyes. “He’s kind of antisocial. Ignore him.”

“If I had that many siblings, I’d probably be antisocial too,” Richard said. “Eleven of you? Really?”

“Yep. Mom says she’s done, but we’ll see. She said the same thing after Michael, and there’s four younger than him.” Cécile shrugged. “In all fairness, the last two are twins, but still. It wasn’t an accident.”

 

After dinner, Yuri went back to the hotel, where he checked his phone to find a message from Otabek.

**_Just because we’re best friends doesn’t mean you can date my sister._ **

There was a link to an article about how notably antisocial Yuri Plisetsky had gone out of his way to spend all day with a girl that further research discovered to be a novice skater, Dariya Altin. Yuri cracked up. Somehow, no one had noticed that she shared a country and a name with Otabek, and people just assumed she was his girlfriend.

**You wanted me to hang out with her, I hung out with her. The idiot press around me isn’t exactly new.**  
**But as long as JJ and Cécile and Julien can’t date her either, fine.**

He wanted to warn Otabek that it was going to get worse – while talking, they’d discovered that they were taking the same flight to Sofia. The others were going to support their brothers, and Yuri was going to support his best friend. The thing was, Otabek didn’t know about either of those, and Dariya had said it was supposed to be a surprise when she and her “coach” showed up. Her “coach” was a family friend, since her parents couldn’t come. Normally they would have, but Dariya and Otabek’s older brother Selim’s wife had just had twins less than a week before.

 

The next morning, when Yuri went to leave his room for the rink, he was stopped by an enormous flower arrangement. A quick search turned up a card - _These are for you to give your lovely girlfriend. Be careful, but good luck!_

Yuri managed to stop himself from throwing the flowers into the wall. Just because they came from Lev didn’t mean the flowers deserved to be treated so badly. The flowers were nice, and he might end up giving them to Dariya anyway, even though it would fan the flames of the ridiculous rumor. On the other hand, he was incredibly creeped out by the fact that Lev knew where his room was, and that he thought Yuri would be dating.

Yakov was not happy when he heard the story. “Even if I thought for a second he meant well and was just trying to do his son a favor, there’s still the fact that she’s, what, eleven? Neither of you are old enough to be dating and it’s kind of creepy that he’s encouraging it.”

“I know. What should I do with them?”

Yakov shrugged. “I’d probably throw them out, knowing where they came from, but if you don’t want to do that you could keep them or give them to Lilia. I wouldn’t give them to Dariya just because of the rumors, but if you want to, do it.” Yuri chose to give them to Lilia, and Lilia found the story of where they’d come from amusing.

It made him a little later getting to the rink than he’d meant to be. Richard, Klaus, and Julien met him just inside. “You don’t have time for Angels, so we’re blocking for you,” Richard explained. That made it a lot easier to get back and be ready to skate, so Yuri got himself in the mood for death and destruction of morons. JJ, Lev, and idiot media were going to be the starring corpses today.

There wasn’t much in the way of competition. Everyone was doing the triples they could do, but the scores were still in the 60s and 70s. Yuri ignored that. He had a goal. He was going to break 90 today. If he didn’t, he only had one more shot at it, at the European Criterium Cup, and that was if he got to go. He wasn’t worried, there weren’t that many boys, but he had skipped two events. Everyone else had skipped Ringhoffer, too, but there were a couple boys competing at Rozmaring right now.

It was a great performance. Yuri’s spins were amazing, and he had a great deal of fun destroying the world. Next year, in juniors, he wondered if Yakov would let him do something fun like this. When he got to the toe loop that had kept him from 90 at the NRW, he channeled his annoyance at Lev into a jump with great height, especially considering it was the last one.

Yakov didn’t have just a whole lot to say, although he did have things. Yuri listened, because it was better than staring at the screen waiting for his score or watching the Zamboni clean the ice for the girls. Finally, his score came up. It wasn’t much, but it was over 90, and Yakov hugged Yuri. “Congratulations. I’m proud of you.” Richard took silver, and Klaus bronze. Julien barely missed the podium.

Yuri stuck around to watch the girls. Dariya, once again, skated very well, but her jump composition was so weak it held her back. She wasn’t going to make the podium. Cécile took silver, beaten out by a Japanese skater.

 

Once Yuri was free of the other Angels, Cécile and Dariya made their way to him. “Hey. Did you see the rumors?” Dariya asked.

“Yep. Beka texted me and said I’m not allowed to date you.”

Dariya rolled her eyes. “Screw that. I don’t want him protecting me.”

“I’m pretty sure he was joking. I’m probably not gonna date until I know who my soulmate is, and he knows that.” He looked around. “Where’s Julien?”

“He took off with some of the other boys. Richard’s coming with me and Dariya – he says he wants to teach me how to speak real French, not the crap I hear all the time,” Cécile said. “We’d like you to come too, but if you’re worried about the talk…”

“Nah. What are we doing?” The hotel room didn't feel safe, not with knowing that Lev knew which one it was, but there was no way Yakov would let him take off by himself. Going with sort-of friends was probably his best plan, and it sounded like he'd missed Richard.

“Mom’s taking us to the amusement park. It’ll be fun!”

“Sure. Let me just tell Yakov.” Yakov approved, and told Yuri to check in with him when he got back because he was going to try to get Yuri's room moved.


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Junior Worlds.

The rumors died down, only to be replaced with even sillier rumors – now Yuri was dating Cécile and Dariya was dating Julien. Richard got a little pouty about it. “How come no one ever spread stupid rumors about you dating me?”

“Because we were ten when we met and now that I’m apparently old enough to be spreading rumors about everyone expects us to hang out at competitions?” Yuri made a face. “Or because you’re not a girl. People think I’m going to take after Yakov or Georgi instead of Viktor or Yuuri?”

“I guess. It’s still annoying.”

Yuri groaned. “Trust me. You are better off not being involved in the shit that happens with the media around my rinkmates and me. I was hoping I’d at least make juniors before they started talking about me dating. There’ve already been stupid rumors about my soulmate. Just be grateful you don’t have to deal with it.”

“If you say so,” Richard said. Yuri just shook his head and went back to his book. Math was easier to make sense out of than someone wanting to be involved in the media circus.

 

The look on Otabek’s face when Dariya jumped on his back in Sofia was hilarious, in that it didn’t look any different from his normal face. He turned around, not that it helped him see Dariya, but he smiled when he saw Yuri. “I was wondering if you’d come to support Saviliy. Who’s the parasite I’ve picked up?”

Yuri stuck his tongue out at Otabek. “Hey, I’m here to support you, asshole. And hope JJ ends up last. The parasite’s your sister.”

“Impossible. There is no way Rayana would be here. She hates leaving Almaty.”

Yuri blinked. What was Otabek doing? “Your other sister.”

“I have another sister?” Otabek reached up and touched Dariya’s arms. “You’d think I’d remember that. No, I’m pretty sure Rayana’s it. If I did have another sister, she’d tell me when she’s going to big competitions or coming to mine to cheer for me.”

“Beka!” Dariya giggled and got down. “You’re never going to let me forget that, are you.”

Otabek hugged Dariya. “Nope. You don’t deserve to, you horrible sister.”

“Where’s JJ?” This was one thing Yuri was not looking forward to. If JJ and Otabek were friends, that meant he was stuck hanging out with the asshole. At least Cécile and Julien were better.

Otabek shrugged. “Around somewhere, I’m sure, since Cécile and Julien were coming in on the same flight. Why, do you want to go find him?”

“No, I just thought…”

“You hate the guy. I’m not gonna make you hang out with someone you hate. I train with JJ, I don’t need to hang out with him here, I don’t get to see you very much. Next year might be better.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’m staying in Juniors. Not because you’re coming up, that’s just a nice bonus. I’m not ready to move up yet. There’s a chance we could get qualifiers together, because you know there’s no way Russia’s not putting you in the Junior Grand Prix.”

 

Sure enough, Yuri didn’t see JJ at all until the men’s short program. Even that was from a distance, watching JJ on the ice. He was good, dammit. He was in first after the short program, ahead of Emil and Leo. Guang Hong was sixth, Otabek was ninth, Kenjirou tenth. Not what Yuri had been hoping for. Still good, aside from JJ, he supposed.

Guang Hong and Leo came over to them after the skate. “Hi! Congratulations on the 90 at the Challenger Cup, Yuri, that’s amazing!”

“Thanks. You did good here. Good year?”

“Yeah. Great year. Have you met Leo?”

“Nope. Heard about him through Phichit and Beka, though. Hi.”

“Hi! Nice to meet you. You’re a legend already, wow, I’m so excited you came!” Leo held out a hand, which Yuri took reluctantly. He got enough fanboying from his Angels, he didn’t need his future competition doing it too. Better that than a dick like JJ, though.

“What are we doing now?” Otabek asked.

Leo shrugged. “Thought we might grab JJ and Gabriel and go to the zoo. They have some cool monkeys. You in?”

“Not if JJ’s going, unless you want to deal with what happens when Yuri and JJ are in the same room,” Otabek said.

Yuri checked his phone. “It’s fine if JJ’s coming. I’m gonna spend most of the time bouncing between cats. They have leopards, I gotta go see the pumas or Potya would never forgive me, and there’s a Siberian tiger!”

 

JJ, Cécile, and Julien joined them, as did Dariya and a couple other skaters. Yuri didn’t spend all his time at the tiger exhibit, but he did spend most of it there, watching the majestic cat. The only cat he didn’t go check out was the lions, which he ignored because Leo said JJ liked them and he was kind of over lions because of Lev. Leo convinced him to go to the baboons for a little bit.

Yuri watched the baboons curiously, and then turned to Leo. “Are you sure it was safe to bring JJ here? Won’t they think one of these guys has escaped?”

“That’s mean,” Cécile said. “What did the baboons do to you to deserve that comparison?”

Yuri jumped, and turned around guiltily. “You’re not gonna defend your brother?” If he’d known Cécile was there, he wouldn’t have said it.

Cécile shook her head. “If you hadn’t said it, I was gonna make a crack about that one in the corner looking like JJ. JJ needs someone to make fun of him from time to time!”

 

The men’s free skate was two days later, and Yakov would be taking Yuri home right after unless Otabek made the exhibition. He didn’t expect to – he wasn’t going to medal, and his skating wasn’t what they were usually looking for with their invitations. JJ won, which Yuri hoped meant he’d be going up to seniors. Why stick around after winning the Junior Grand Prix Finals and Junior Worlds? Leo managed to overtake Emil for silver, while Emil got third. Guang Hong stayed in sixth, while Otabek moved up to eighth and Kenjirou to ninth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to send Mila to Junior Worlds. Whoops. XD


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The flight to Worlds revives some old rumors and starts some new ones.

Other than watching friends competing, Yuuri and Viktor spent all their time on schoolwork, preparing for Worlds, or sleep. It was something of a relief to be caught up from missing so much for the Olympics, but they were about to miss again for Worlds, and no one was very happy about it. Yuuri even briefly considered withdrawing when he had to deal with the professor who’d tried to mess with him over the Olympics, but she was much more pleasant than he’d expected, giving him everything he needed without a word.

The trip to Saitama was quiet and Yuuri spent most of it asleep. Viktor slept a lot of the flight, too, but he did stay up some to just sit and stare at Yuuri with a soft smile. Sasha nudged him. “Still not over how cute your husband is?”

“Never. Also, there’s no team trophy this year because we did it in the Olympics, meaning we’re done after this, meaning he can finally get some rest and not be so exhausted all the time. I am definitely looking forward to summer. We haven’t talked about it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he decides that other than some time in Hasetsu, his idea of summer vacation is going to be taking a week off of practice to just sleep and play with the dogs and not have to do anything or be anywhere or have any expectations on us.”

“Sounds like that’s what you want?” Sasha teased.

“I want to go on a cruise somewhere. It’s still nice and relaxing, but we’ll get to see neat places! I was thinking Greek Isles, but there are lots of cool ideas out there. We’ve got time to decide, so I didn’t want to even start talking until off-season.”

“What are you going to do next year to avoid the draft? Advanced degree or kid?”

“Again, that’s an off-season conversation to have with Yuuri. I know a lot of our fans are getting impatient for a Viktuuri kid, and since Yuuri plans to coach after he retires from skating, it’s not like travel is going be slowing down any time in the foreseeable future. I know I’m ready to have a kid, but if he’s not, then we wait.”

“Will Mari want to have another one so soon?”

Viktor shrugged. “Another important consideration. Of course, even if she doesn’t, there’s no reason we can’t look into adoption.”

“True. Or Yuuko might be ready to retire, now that she’s got an Olympic medal. I wouldn’t expect it, but it could happen!” Sasha leaned into Viktor. “I’m not retiring yet. Just so you know.”

“What about you and Rykov, have you even started talking about kids yet?”

“Valera says he doesn’t want kids, but there’s always the possibility that he could change his mind. His words, not mine. I’d like to have one of my own, but if I end up having to be the cool aunt spoiling your kids and Dima’s and Melashka’s, that’s cool too.”

Rykov looked up from his computer. “What she said. I’m half-expecting that when the time comes to hand over the one she has for you two, I’m going to be mad about it and demand one of my own. We know I have problems with Yuuri having something I don’t, right? And it’ll be biologicially Yuuri’s…”

Viktor blinked a couple times, and then dissolved into helpless giggles. “I’m imagining your face if at that Worlds where we knew Sasha was your soulmate and you didn’t, Yuuri had said something about borrowing your wife to have a baby with.”

Rykov snickered. “Yeah, the podium would’ve looked a little different that year, Yuuri woudn’t be on it because he’d be dead and you wouldn’t be on it because you’d have killed me and gotten yourself banned from the competition.”

“Or he’d be dead because I’d have killed him for starting the drama,” Sasha said through her own giggles. “Wow, that is hilarious.”

“What is?” Yuuri asked, voice still thick with sleep.

Viktor kissed him, stroking his hair. “I’ll explain later, just go back to sleep, love. You need it.”

 

Viktor didn’t explain that day, which meant that after practice, Phichit caught up to him to show him the new rumor. “One Nikiforov’s not enough for you, you need both,” he said. “Something about you sleeping with Sasha to prove to Rykov that you’re still better than him?”

Yuuri blinked and read through the blog post. “This makes no sense. Vitya!” Viktor came running over, and Yuuri handed the phone to him. “Huh?”

Viktor started laughing almost as soon as he saw the post. “Oh, I forgot! Sasha was asking me about kids, and I asked her, and we ended up with Rykov joking about changing his mind about not wanting any after Sasha gave birth to your kid because of your history together. That’s what the three of us found so funny we woke you up on the plane yesterday. I guess someone heard just enough of the conversation to come up with this.”

Yuuri’s jaw dropped. “Oh, wow, I had not even considered that. You’re sure Rykov was joking about it? It wasn’t covering a serious problem with humor?”

“You can ask him yourself, but Sasha knows him way better than either of us, and she took it as a joke. I really think he’s okay with it, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see him change his mind about not wanting a kid anyway after going through the pregnancy and birth and however long we leave the kid with them.”

Phichit patted Yuuri’s shoulder. “I don’t think he ever had anything personal against you, he was just jealous that you got to skate for Yakov and he didn’t, so once he grew up and got over himself, he got over his problems with you completely.”

 

That night, Mari called. “Hey. Saw something about the two of you are thinking about kids in the near future?”

Yuuri switched to speakerphone and called Viktor over. “It’s only a rumor, but something worth talking about anyway. I know it’s way too soon for you, but…”

“Yeah, right now, but that’s not gonna last much longer. Viktor, do you actually have to have the kid, or is pregnancy good enough for the draft board?”

Viktor paused to think about that one. “In my case, as long as the pregnancy is far enough along that it’s unlikely that it would end in anything but a birth, pregnancy should be good enough. They’d be looking for an excuse not to call up their Olympic medalist skater.”

“So if we plan things for me to give birth in early October, it won’t matter to them that I might still be a couple weeks away.”

“It shouldn’t. How precise can we be, though? You and Bin were worried about competitions…”

Mari snorted. “Me and Bin were doing things differently than I would with you. We can pick a two-week window much more easily. First two weeks of October avoid you missing the birth for a Grand Prix event or the other way around, I’d keep the baby for breast-feeding for six months which gets you through the competition season, and then you’d have the off-season to adjust to having the baby at home. It would give me over a year between pregnancies.”

Yuuri and Viktor stared at each other. Mari had thought a lot about this. “We’ll have to talk about it, but thanks for letting us know your thoughts,” Yuuri said. “Seriously, Mari, you are the best sister I could have ever asked for.”

“Yeah, and don’t you ever forget that. I don’t need an answer right away, or even any time soon. Take your time, really think it over, and let me know before December so I can figure out exact dates.”


	36. Chapter 36

Pairs were the first to skate, and Viktor and Yuuri skipped that in favor of a nap. Stas and Salomat were in seventh, Lina and Tima in fourth, and the biggest surprise of the day was that Ayako and Chohei were in sixth.

Men skated after them. The early groups, neither Viktor nor Yuuri cared to pay much attention to. Their friends were all skating later, and it meant longer that they could relax. Seung Gil was the first skater they took the time to watch. He was good, but somewhat robotic, as usual. Lukas was more fun, but he had some mistakes that kept him below Seung Gil. Masaki took a large lead, which he held into the penultimate group. Georgi took it from him almost immediately. Rykov fell out of a quad loop attempt, dropping him down below even Phichit for the day. Georgi was still in the lead at the end of the second group, although Bin had come close to taking it. Christophe was the one to take it from him, and then Michele beat him, much to everyone’s surprise, especially Michele’s.

Yuuri was the next to last skater. He started out better than he had at the Olympics, having no trouble with his quad toe loop, but the energy from the Olympics was missing. He wasn’t as polished, and it showed all too clearly as he skated off the ice. He wasn’t getting another record. He probably wasn’t getting over 100. He was right – close to 100, but not over.

Viktor, skating last, had a better skate. He hit both of his quads cleanly, and he didn’t seem to have lost anything from the Olympics. His score was a bit lower than it had been there, but he was still over 100, nearly a full point ahead of Yuuri.

The press was waiting for them. “This is your first competition with Misha retired. How does it feel?”

“A little surreal,” Viktor said. “We’ve been skating together for so long, it’s just plain odd having Rykov here and knowing that it’s because he’s one of the top three active skaters for Russia. I’ve been getting used to it in practice, and it’s not like I’ve never competed without him, but it’s odd. Next season’s going to be even odder.”

“This makes you the oldest of Yakov’s skaters. Do you feel like you need to step up and take on a leadership role?”

“I think Georgi would probably kick me if I tried!” Viktor winked at the reporters. “I’m only a day older than him, after all.”

“Misha was never really a leader, not in that sense,” Yuuri added. “We’re all very good at organizing ourselves, and of course we have Yakov to be the leader we need.”

“Rumors are starting up again about the two of you becoming parents soon. Is there any truth to it?”

Viktor and Yuuri looked at each other. “We’ve started talking about it, yes,” Yuuri said. “We’ve got the beginning of a plan for if we decide we’re ready, but we need to talk it over and decide that. We’re saving that conversation for after Worlds, so that we’re not distracted from skating.”

“Can you tell us what the plan is?”

“We can!” Viktor said with a huge smile. “We’re not going to, but we can. Until we’ve made a decision, we don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, especially not potential grandparents and aunts and extended family and friends.”

“Related to that, there are rumors that your old rivalry with Rykov is flaring up again, Yuuri. What caused that?”

Yuuri shook his head. “Nothing. Rykov and I do not consider each other rivals the way we were back in Juniors, and that’s not going to change just because I’m going to start seeing him in competition more. This particular rumor flare came from a joke Rykov made about the old days on the flight out here. I see that as a sign that we really have left that type of rivalry behind us.”

“Who do you consider your rivals, then?”

“The obvious one is my husband. The two of us support each other as much as we can, but then for about seven minutes we do everything in our power to crush each other’s dreams. It’s a good rivalry, and the kind I much prefer to the kind I had with Rykov in Juniors.”

“But you never lost to Rykov.”

“Losing is never fun, but the best rivals are the ones who do beat you sometimes. It keeps you from getting complacent. Keeps you on your toes. I wouldn’t be anywhere near the skater I am if it weren’t for Viktor’s support, and knowing that he’ll never take it easy on me and let me walk onto the top of the podium.”

 

Yuuri went to find Yuri that night, and found him playing his DS and hiding in the corner of his hotel room. “Hey. You saw the interview?”

Yuri didn’t look up from his game at all. “Yeah. How long do I have before I get replaced?”

As much as it wasn't a surprise, it still hurt that Yuri didn't believe in them. Yuuri slid down the wall to sit beside Yuri. “You’re not getting replaced, Yuri. You hate being called our son by our fan clubs, so why do you think we’d let our kids replace you?”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “Don’t go logicking me, it’s not going to work and I don't need it anyway. I know I’m being stupid. If you were planning to have a kid in the next year or so, you'd have already told me.”

“You're right. You’re one of the people we wanted to talk to before we made any kind of decision, but we’re looking at the season after next. Mari would have the baby in October and we’d bring him or her home after Worlds.”

Now Yuri did look up from his game, eyes wide. “So two years. When were you gonna talk to me?”

“In the next couple of weeks. We're going to be talking to Yakov and Lilia, and Misha and Emiliya, too." Yuuri smiled as something occurred to him. "You know, that'll be when you’re hitting seniors, if you stick with your plan to move up as soon as you can. You'll be at competitions with us!”

“Huh. Okay. I’ll try to believe in you guys, just don’t expect miracles, okay?”

“Okay.” Yuuri hugged Yuri and got up to leave.

 

In pairs the next day, the Japanese team couldn’t hold on, dropping to seventh behind Stas and Salomat. Lina and Tima moved up as well to get bronze. Ladies skated next, and they ignored the first few groups. Alena was the first skater they watched. She did reasonably well – no question that she would be in the free skate, but she wasn’t going to be in the top ten. Sara had an uncharacteristically bad day, while Raisa did what was expected and Cathy made the top ten. Sako came out on fire, finishing just behind Saila, who was in the lead at that point. Skye had a bad day, too, finishing sixth for the day. Kang Hee had the lead, Yuuko was second, Saila third, followed by the other two Japanese skaters.


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Worlds free skates.
> 
> Timeline: March 28-29, 2014

The next day kicked off with the short dance. Georgi was eager to see how Anya and Christov bounced back from their disappointing Olympics, and of course Kamil and Chris were supporting their respective teams. Anya and Christov did very well, not quite setting a record but hitting a tough mark to beat. Jolanda and Masumi got somewhat close, while Olesya and Anatolij just missed the final group. The top French team just edged out Anya and Christov for first, with the top American team third, Jolanda and Masumi fourth, and the other French team fifth.

There wasn’t much excitement in the first two groups of the men’s free skate. Lukas moved up a bit it the standings, while Phichit dropped, and Rykov moved up quite a bit. Not enough, not like Misha would have done, but Russia was hardly embarrassed by their third skater. In the third group, Sachio recovered a bit from his bad day the day before, and Paul did very well. Kamil struggled, ending up finishing rather low by his standards, and Jude crumbled to finish very low. Georgi did well enough to pass Chris, who had a couple mistakes that meant he would be off the podium. Michele managed to defend his spot, holding off both Georgi and Chris to guarantee himself a medal.

Yuuri’s nerves had been bugging him all day, and they flared a little as he took the ice. He had to do well today. Viktor was not going to be easy to catch. The first jump went better than it had at the Olympics, at least, and Yuuri tried to relax. Everything went well, and Yuuri was just starting to think his brain was just being weird when he had a rare screwup on a spin, stumbling badly out of the flying entrance to a camel spin. He recovered nicely with a strong triple axel, but the damage had been done, and he was not looking forward to going over to Yakov.

Surprisingly, Yakov didn’t spend much time on the spin at all, talking more about some jump issues and a couple moments where Yuuri had gotten sloppy in the choreography. He didn’t ignore the spin, but he also didn’t make a big deal out of it. Still, Yuuri didn’t let himself relax until he saw the 194 pop up. Silver or gold, again, depending on what Viktor did.

Viktor didn’t start out as well as he had at the Olympics, but his quad flip was still very strong. Yuuri tried not to laugh too hard when Viktor pulled off a nearly perfect flying camel spin. Showoff. Everything went well for Viktor, and when he came over to the Kiss and Cry, Yuuri hugged him. “What do you think? Who won?”

“Me. I think today was basically a tie, so my lead from the short program will mean I win. What do you think?”

“Makes sense to me. Yakov?”

“That sounds about right.” He started the critique of Viktor’s program while they waited.

It wasn’t a perfect tie, but it was damn close. Viktor’s score was just over 295 total. Yakov smiled. “Last year, this time, I set you two a challenge and you responded well. I’m doing it again. I want to see you two get over 300 in your overall score.”

“Deal!” Viktor hugged Yakov and Yuuri both.

On the podium, Yuuri hugged Michele. “Congratulations! This is amazing, I’m so happy for you. You had a great skate here!”

“Thanks! I’m still trying to believe I’m here, honestly.” Michele lifted his medal and stared at it. “You’re not upset that Chris or Georgi didn’t make it?”

“No, of course not, you beat them, you earned that,” Viktor said. “You’re our friend, too. Relax and enjoy being here.”

 

The press was eager to talk to them, as always. “Michele’s new to the podium. Are you happy he made it?”

“Of course! Michele was one of the friends I made back in Juniors, and it’s good to share a podium with him again,” Yuuri said.

“You wouldn’t rather…”

Viktor held back the eyeroll, but just barely. “There are only three spots on the podium. If two of those are mine and my husband’s, only one of our friends can make it with us, and we don’t play favorites for who we want to be up there. It’s entirely up to the judges, and Michele skated better than any of our other friends.”

“Any thoughts on the ladies’ skate tomorrow?”

“I wish them all the best of luck, especially Yuuko,” Yuuri said. “I hope she’ll do well.”

 

That night, as they lay in bed, Yuuri rolled over so he could look at Viktor. “Kid thoughts?”

“We need to talk to Yakov and Lilia and Misha and make sure we have the support in place we’re going to need, but Mari’s plan sounds good to me. We also need to talk to Yuri and make sure he knows that us having a kid changes nothing for him, he’s welcome to come over whenever he likes. He’s our family.”

“I talked to him the other day. He knows that, and he’s going to do his best to believe it, just be prepared to be patient when he gets prickly.”

“Good. So what do you think? Are you going to be ready to have a kid in two years?”

“Yes, I think so. If we’re going to do it before I retire, I’d like to make it so we aren’t trying to raise a baby while we prepare for the Olympics, you know? By two, they’re sleeping through the night.”

Viktor laughed. “Okay. That sounds like a plan to me, then! When do we talk to Yakov?”

“Tomorrow? Mila’s not skating, so he won’t be distracted, and we can talk to Misha when we get back.”

 

Yakov thought a Viktuuri baby in two years was a wonderful idea. He and Lilia promised to support them however they could, as did Georgi when he overheard Yakov’s shout. Then he made them shut up because ice dance was about to start.

Olesya and Anatolij did well, but still dropped behind the Canadian team. Jolanda and Masumi managed to beat the Americans, putting them on the podium, while Anya and Christov had another great performance. It was good enough to beat the top French team for gold, making a lovely redemption story after their disasters at the Olympics.

After the first two groups of the ladies’, Madlene was on top. Alena dropped behind both her and Canada’s Lucy Abernathy, and Viktor laughed and showed Yuuri the text from Mila.

_**I would have done better.** _

“She probably would have, but it’s still funny,” Viktor whispered.

Sara recovered from her bad day, but she was still not going to get anywhere near the podium. Cathy and Raisa both had good days, but Emily dropped hard. Skye took the lead, which Iona took from her to guarantee herself a medal. Yuuko had a great skate, but Kang Hee had an even better one, landing a triple axel. Gold for Kang Hee, silver for Yuuko, and bronze for Iona. Skye just missed the medals in fourth.


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation Baby is given the official go. There's no taking it back once you tell your mom.
> 
> Timeline: early April 2014

With Worlds behind them, Yuuri and Viktor’s season was over. Yuri still had one competition left, but Viktor and Yuuri were ready to spend the next few months focused on school. After they talked to Misha and Emiliya, of course.

One of the first things they did when they got back was go to dinner at their place. Emiliya was pregnant again, due in October, and they were excited to get to tell their friends. “The best thing about this pregnancy – I’m not having to worry about missing anything,” Misha said. “This retirement thing is fun. I’m set up to start teaching skating this summer, when the kids get out of school and have free time, and I’m really looking forward to it. Retirement’s nice, but I miss the rink. I don’t miss the work, and any day now I expect to stop flinching when my phone rings when I’m in the middle of something because Yakov’s not here to shout at me for it, but I miss the ice and the fun we had.”

“You could come back…”

“No, I couldn’t,” Misha said before Emiliya could contradict Viktor. “I mean, I could from a skating standpoint, and I’d probably do well, but I’m going out on a Grand Prix Finals and an Olympic bronze. I’d said for years that if I made it to the Sochi Olympics, that would be my last season, and I made a promise to Emya that the next baby I’d be home for all the time. I can’t go back on that and stick her with a newborn and a four-year-old while I’m out skating!”

“Speaking of newborns, I heard the interviews at Worlds,” Emiliya said. “The two of you are thinking about a kid in the near future?”

“Born October of next year, brought home after Worlds 2016,” Viktor confirmed. “It’s not for sure, but it’s very likely, since it works for us and Mari.”

“That’s great!” Misha jumped up and hugged Viktor and Yuuri. “You guys are going to be great dads, and you’ve got us to babysit when you’re gone.”

“Good. That’s going to make it so much easier. Is Nika skating yet?”

“Define skating. What he’s mostly doing is falling down. It’s all right, I’m not worried, I’d love to see him become a skater but if he doesn’t, he doesn’t, right? He’ll find something he likes, I’m sure.”

 

Mari was not surprised at all to get the call. “I’ve been looking at dates, and what makes the most sense is for you to donate the sperm when you’re out here for New Year’s, if you’re coming like usual. We can keep it frozen for a couple weeks if we need to for timing. You don’t need to be here for the treatment itself. That would put the due date in early October.”

“Which is perfect! If I end up out there for the NHK, I might see if Yakov would let me go down and donate then, just to give you a little more flexibility. Late September is better than late October, since one of us will most likely be in one of the first two qualifiers.”

“Yeah, makes sense. If Yuuri’s the one skating, there’s no reason you couldn’t come out for the practice day. The separation would suck, but you guys can survive one day, right?”

“Probably. We’ll figure it out, I’m sure.”

“Can I tell Mom and Dad?”

Viktor and Yuuri looked at each other. Viktor nodded. “You can, but if Mom’s not too busy at the moment, can you give her the phone so I can tell her myself?”

“Sure. Hang on.” There was a brief pause while Mari looked for Hiroko. “Okay. Here you go.”

“Yuuri? Mari says you need to talk to me? Is something wrong?”

Yuuri blinked. Was he really such a bad son that he never called his mother unless something was wrong? He would have to do better from now on about making sure to call his parents. “No, nothing’s wrong, Mom. I just thought you’d like to know that Viktor and I have been talking and making some plans with Mari, and we’re planning on having a baby next year.”

Hiroko squealed in glee. “Amazing! I’m so excited! Hold on a second, there are a couple other people here you should tell.” The sound changed, and Yuuri realized he was on speaker. “Your father and Minako and Yuuko are here. Go ahead, Yuuri.”

Fair enough, then. Yuuri repeated himself, and the squealing from Minako and Yuuko was nearly deafening. Thankfully, only nearly, so Yuuri and Viktor could hear the congratulations from Toshiya.

“While you’re all here, I have my own announcement,” Mari said. “I’ve finished taking care of the work I missed last fall, so that graduation ceremony I participated in is official. I have my degree now.”

“That’s great news, Mari! I wish I could be there to give you the hug you deserve for that,” Yuuri said.

“Thanks, but I’m not the one who needs the hug. Mom’s crying now.”

“Can you blame her?” Minako said. “There was a time we were worried about you finishing high school, and now you’ve got a university degree. Hiroko is going to be the proudest mother in Hasetsu for the next couple months.”

“Like she has been the last couple months because of Yuuri’s Olympic gold medal?” Mari deadpanned. “Or since November because of her temporary grandson?”

“I’m still not convinced of how temporary he is,” Hiroko said. “This is the one drawback to the news about another grandchild. One’s off to China in the next few days, and then the second one will be living in Russia. Most likely, any future grandchildren will be living in Russia.”

“I dunno. I’m still glad I get to skip potty training, but I’m gonna miss Jiahao a lot when he and Bin go home. Once Viktor and Yuuri have their kid, I might decide to have one more to grow up here. You and Dad and Minako kinda deserve having a kid around to spoil, you’ve been so great about everything with me.”

“Don’t think like that, please,” Hiroko said. “I would love to have a grandchild who will stay here in Hasetsu to grow up, but saying I deserve it makes it sound like you owe me something for being your mother, and you don’t. If you decide you don’t want to go through a third pregnancy, don’t put yourself through it for me.”

“I know, Mom. If I have a third kid, it’ll be for me. Or Yuuri or Bin, but the point being, it won’t be because I owe anyone anything.”

 

As soon as they were off the phone with Japan, Viktor called Chris to tell him about the plan, while Yuuri called Phichit. Then it was their publicists, because the baby talk was already started, so there was absolutely no way this wasn’t going to be a big deal for the next two years. For most of their friends, they decided they could rely on Phichit to get the word out, so the final call was to Sasha, who started squealing the second the word baby came out of Viktor’s mouth. Rykov had to take over the call to actually hear the plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chris had fun faking a heart attack at the idea that Viktor actually remembered to tell him about stuff. Viktor is still not forgiven for failing to tell Chris about the heartbreak skate prank from the last Olympics season. ;-)


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hooray.
> 
> Timeline: early April 2014

Yuri’s season wasn’t quite over. He had to survive one more competition as a novice before he could start on a triple axel. It was a good distraction from all the baby talk happening in Saint Petersburg and Otabek’s upcoming move to Canada. He wanted to have faith in people, but it was hard for him. Misha was at least starting out well, but with a second baby on the way, Yuri figured he had until October and then he’d be forgotten.

When he met up with Richard, he had a question. “Have you decided about moving up yet?”

“Not yet. There’s a couple things it depends on… how I do, how Klaus does. Mère wants me to stay in novices so I can get some wins, but I’m not sure I would. If I’m still not going to be winning gold, may as well miss gold in juniors, right?”

“Yeah, I can agree with that. Is that how your parents are looking at it?”

Richard shrugged. “They’ve basically said that since they can’t agree, they’ll leave it up to me and my coach. My coach thinks I’m ready to move up, but she’ll support me if I choose to stay back to try to win some gold medals.”

“Good luck, then. Hope to see you next year.” Otabek was staying, Yuri was pretty sure, but he didn’t know who else would still be in juniors next year. Richard was pretty cool. Almost like a friend. A friend he didn’t talk to outside of competitions, but still.

 

Through the first couple days, while the little kids did their competitions, Yuri hung out with the other novice boys and tried to enjoy himself without constantly looking for Lev. It mostly worked; Lev didn’t appear to be at this competition. Yuri was paranoid, probably, but he had a bad feeling. It had been too long with Lev only being creepy.

Naturally, Lev decided to show up the day Yuri had to skate his short program. His event was the first of the day, with girls after, and then the junior competitions. It meant an early start for Yuri, although not as early as some he’d had to deal with. The one good thing about early starts – fewer Angels to deal with beforehand.

Scores were low, which didn’t phase Yuri. His score wouldn’t be. Klaus struggling with his triple toe loop, that did bother Yuri a little bit. Not to the extent that it would mess with his skating, but still, it upset him.

One thing he would miss about novices – this program. In Juniors, Yakov might make him take things a bit more seriously, although Yuri was still going to try to revisit Cats once Yakov would let him skate to Rum Tum Tugger. Then again, Yakov had agreed to Yuuri doing an alien invasion theme, in an Olympic year, no less. It was possible that he’d agreed to it because he knew Yuuri wouldn’t do it, but still. There was hope.

From the opening triple Lutz, Yuri just lost himself in the program, enjoying the buildup of tension as the aliens prepared to invade the planet. Technically, he thought he’d done better at his last competition, but he wasn’t too far off. Chances were good that his score would be fine, and he was right about that. A higher performance score meant that he was only a couple tenths off, which Yakov didn’t say much about. Critiquing the program elements, yes.

The Angels weren’t too bad after the short program, so Yuri let himself relax. Big mistake. Lev walked up to him. “Hello, Yuri.”

“What do you want?”

“I wanted to say hello and congratulations. This was your last short program as a novice, right?”

“Why do you even care?”

“Because I’m your father.”

“Not much of one.”

“No. Yuri, I owe you so many apologies.”

“Really? You…” Yuri didn’t even know where to start. “You really think this is going to work? You show up, apologize for ditching me and then forcing your way back into my life with a bunch of lies, but you apologize and I forgive you?”

“I can’t change what I did to you and your mother, Yuri. I’ve been thinking, though, and I’ve changed. No more lies, no more abandonment. I just want a chance to prove that to you.”

Yuri looked around for Yakov or Lilia, but he couldn’t see either of them. “I’ll believe that when I see it happen, but it’s going to be hard to see it happen since I don’t want to be around you ever. You creep me out. I don’t want to deal with you.” He turned and walked off, ignoring Lev’s calls. At least Lev didn’t come after him.

Yakov was furious when he heard what Lev had done. “You handled it well. I don’t trust this ‘change’. I’ll stick closer if you’d like me to.”

“I can deal with him. If nothing else, I can hide. Thanks, though. I don’t trust him either.”

 

Yuri didn’t see Lev again before skating his free program, but it was still plenty of motivation to go out and kill creeps. He wasn’t as sharp as he’d been in The Hague, but like the short program, he didn’t think it would make much difference. He probably wasn’t going to break 90 again, but that was okay. He’d be fine. 89 was fine. He’d still done the impossible and set a high bar for future novices.

Lilia stuck close to Yuri as he signed pictures and cats and shirts. A couple times, Yuri thought he saw Lev, but he always disappeared quickly. If he’d really changed, he wouldn’t be afraid of Lilia, would he? He’d want to apologize to her, too. Maybe he’d realized he failed and decided to leave it alone?

No such luck. Once the Angel crowd was gone, Yuri found a bag had been left behind. Assuming it belonged to an Angel, he opened it on the small chance there was some kind of identifying information on it so he could get it back to them. He found a note and a teddy bear. Teddy bear didn’t exactly fit with Angels – they mostly threw cats. He read the note and crumpled it quickly before turning to Lilia. “Did you see who left this?”

Lilia glanced at the bag and shook her head. “No. I would recommend getting it to the Angels leadership; they’ll find a way to get it back to its owner.”

“I’m the owner. It’s from Lev. For me to give my ‘girlfriend’.”

Lilia raised an eyebrow. “You have a girlfriend already?”

“Only in the press’s overactive imagination, but Lev believes it.”

“Hmm. I would have noticed Lev getting close enough to leave it, which probably means he’s resumed his position with the Angels. Something to keep an eye on.” Lilia’s lips twitched into a small smile. “Which girl? Dariya or Cécile?”

“Dariya. I’m not going to send it to her. It can join the cats in going to a day care or whatever.”


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One season ends, a new one begins, and Phichit calls Yuuri with a Very Important Announcement.

Through April, Yuuri and Viktor took it easy at practice, focusing more on their schoolwork than on thinking of ideas for next season. Yakov didn’t push them – after all, it didn’t matter nearly as much this season. “If you want to do that alien invasion this year, have fun.”

“I might! It will depend on what else I can come up with, of course,” Viktor said. “I’ve got some ideas to play with and see if I like anything that comes out of them.”

“Okay. Don’t think too hard yet, but when you figure out your plans, let me know.”

One thing that kept Yuuri from thinking too much about his program was that Yakov drafted him to teach Yuri to do a triple axel. Yuri took to it with zeal, learning quickly with Yuuri’s guidance. While they took a break one day, Yuri started ranting about Lev. “Phichit’s scary, you know that?”

“Yes, he is, but what’s Phichit got to do with Lev?” Yuuri asked. He really didn’t want to know about any connection there.

“Chill. Phichit overheard me ranting to Beka about him pushing the thing with Dariya being my girlfriend and took the phone. When he was done telling me off for being a moron, he offered to get the Hamsters to keep an eye out for Lev. They’re gonna get a message to me if he shows up in Saint Petersburg or Almaty or Detroit or Toronto, or if he shows up in a city I’ve got a competition in.”

“Once Otabek’s out of Detroit, why there?”

Yuri shook his head. “Once Beka’s in Toronto they’re going to ignore him showing up in Detroit, but Toronto’s on the list already because there’s been some talk about me and Cécile and she’s in Toronto. If Lev knows I’m not giving Dariya the stuff he gave me for her, he may decide that’s the real rumor.”

“Well, smart, getting the Hamsters to help you out. They’re good. Have you told Dariya about your dad’s creepy stalking?”

“Nah. Beka knows, I’m pretty sure he’s told his parents, if they think Dariya should know they’ll tell her.” Yuri set down his water bottle. “You ready to go again?”

 

Of course, there were the usual announcements of retirements. Misha was the biggest one in men’s skating, but the ladies’ side was losing two of their best, France’s Rachelle and Korea’s Kang Hee. Yuuko called right after seeing that one. “I probably shouldn’t be so surprised, she just turned twenty-seven and that’s starting to get old for men’s skating, let alone ladies’, but still! She’s so good, I was hoping she’d stick around so I could beat her.”

“Would you really want to beat her because she was losing her skill?”

Yuuko sighed. “No, I guess not, and now Skye’s always going to have that question, isn’t she. Did she win because she was good, or because Kang Hee was losing it and trying to push through one more year for an Olympic gold?”

“You realize this makes you the top ranked ladies’ skater in the world, right? I’m not sure who’s number one in men’s, but it’s either me or Viktor.”

“Believe me, I know. Skye’s already texted to say congratulations but not to get comfortable up here because she wants the title.”

“Heh. Should be a fun season. Good luck holding her off!”

“Thanks! In less fun news, Mom heard about your plans with Mari, and now she’s giving Mari hell for giving away her children and depriving ‘poor Hiroko’ of the grandchildren she deserves. Your mom’s banned her from Yu-Topia until she can respect Mari’s choices, and it’s not like she’s never going to see Jiahao or your kid. Bin’s promised to visit often, and your parents and Mari have offered to babysit when Bin has to be at competitions.”

“Ugh. At least your mom’s not pestering you about her own grandchildren.”

“Well, she’s already got three, but there have been some hints about Takeshi wanting a son.” Yuuko giggled. “Takeshi’s told me that if I retire before I’m ready just to have a baby so that he can have a son, he’ll divorce me. He’s joking, but it really helps with dealing with my mom. He wouldn’t mind having more kids, but he’s also happy to say we’re good with what we have, so I figure we’ll just, you know, see what happens when I retire. I’m starting to think about it… I’m not going to now, don’t worry, but I might after this season or next. I doubt I’ll be in the next Olympics.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why? It happens to everyone. It’s not like I’m going to be leaving everything I’ve ever known or dreamt of with no idea what happens next. I know you’ve still got a long time to go, but retirement’s probably going to be a harder decision on you than it is on me.”

“Talk to Viktor, he’s worried he’s going to have to talk me out of retiring too early,” Yuuri said. “I’m not worried about what comes after retirement. I’m not going to have to worry about paying bills or anything, so the big problem is figuring out what I want to do if coaching doesn’t work out. I know that I can stay home and look after our kids and dogs and Viktor wouldn’t have a problem with it even if that ends up being his retirement plan too. He’s the one I’m more worried about. He’s not sure that he could coach, or that he’d want to, and he likes choreographing but he’s only done it for people he knows well and he’s not sure how well he could do choreographing for strangers.”

 

At the end of the month, Yuuri got a phone call from Phichit. “Please tell me it’s still before practice?”

“I’m at the rink, but I’m here early, so I have time to talk. What’s up?” Yuuri nearly kicked himself when he immediately realized why Phichit would be calling him. “Sorry, I forgot you’re in Thailand, not America. Happy birthday! Am I offering congratulations, condolences, or help?”

“I very nearly needed help, but I managed to talk him into believing me after all. No one’s going to believe this. I’m really happy about this.”

“In that case, congratulations! Who is it?”

“Seung Gil.”

That actually explained a lot, at least to Yuuri. “Why don’t you think anyone will believe it? It certainly explains why the two of you are friends, which is the first question everyone asks when they realize you are. Soulmates are weird, everyone knows that.”

“Hadn’t thought of it like that. Thanks.”

“So you’ve already talked to him?”

“Yeah. He didn’t believe me at first, but we’re good now. We’re not going to rush into anything, but at least there’s no age issues or anything. We’re just gonna let things happen as they happen, but it’s good to know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seungchuchu is now canon, specifically the first chapter of "A Night on the Beach."
> 
> Next part will begin tomorrow or Tuesday!

**Author's Note:**

> If you have suggestions for ships you'd like to see in this 'verse, please let me know in the comments!
> 
> Canon: Christmas (Chris and Mystery Man Masumi), Makkachin/Vicchan, Yakov/Lilia, Seungchuchu. (Milasara and Emimike are canon, but their story as written is *not*.)
> 
> AU: Otayuri*, Milasara*, Emimike*, JJBella*, Chulacometti, Christophe/Georgi, Chris/Paul, Phichuuri+, Yuuko/Takeshi/Seung Gil, Paul/Rykov, Chris/Viktuuri, Viktor/Yuuri/Rykov, Chris/Seung Gil, Minami/Chris, Chris/Viktor/Yuuri, Chulacometti/Viktuuri, Mari/Georgi, Mila/Georgi, Viktuuri/YuuYu/Otayuri., Phichit/Mila, Marichu, Phiciaociao, Phichit/Leo/Guang Hong, JJSeung, Otaseung, Leoseung, Guangchu, Otachu, Phichit/Yurio.  
> *The stories as written have become AU due to developments in the canonverse of this AU but the ships are still potential canon ships.
> 
> Undecided Canonicity: Leoji, Minami/Yurio/Otabek, Plinami, Otapliroy, Pliroy, JJBek.
> 
> On the list to write in whatever order I get ideas for them: Otabek/OC, Sara/Seung Gil + Georgi/Michele, Mila/Minami, Yakov/Nikolai, Lilia/Minako, Mari/Sasha, Sasha/Rykov


End file.
